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Autumn Veatch, Teen Who Survived Plane Crash, Has 'Newfound Respect for Life'

"I appreciate everything so much more now," the teen said.

ByABC News
July 16, 2015, 6:26 PM

— -- A teenager who survived two days in the woods after a plane crash that she said killed her step-grandparents said she has a "newfound respect for life."

Autumn Veatch, 16, was flying from Kalispell, Montana, to Lynden, Washington, with her step-grandparents, Leland and Sharon Bowman, when their plane crashed, authorities said.

The bodies of the two people on the plane were burned beyond recognition, a deputy coroner said today, according to the Associated Press. Their identities have not yet been confirmed, the AP said.

The accident happened Saturday afternoon but a motorist didn't spot the Montana teen until Monday, meaning she spent two days in the wilderness.

Autumn has struggled with depression in the past, she told ABC News. "I still will struggle," she said, but now, she's "never wanted to live more in my life."

"I'm so happy I'm alive," she said. "Having a second chance is the best thing that could have ever happened."

"I just want to find happiness in the smallest things," she said, like reading a book. "I appreciate everything so much more now that I know what it's like to be without and to think that I could have lost everything."

See more of Autumn's interview on World News and Nightline.

ABC News' Kayna Whitworth, John Capell, Beau Beyerle and R. Otto Weller contributed to this report.