A small plane carrying four people crashed into shallow waters next to a remote coastal town in Alaska on Wednesday, killing everyone on board, according to officials.
Details of the crash here
The Piper PA-24 was heading for the airport in the small town of Seldovia after taking off from Anchorage, according to a statement from the Alaska Department of Public Safety.
Seldovia's airport is about 136 miles (219 kilometers) southwest of Anchorage.
After it crashed, it was submerged in about 15 feet (4.6 meters) of water in the Seldovia Slough near the shore, said Clint Johnson, the National Transportation Safety Board’s Alaska region chief.
Troopers had to wait until the tide went out in order to reach it.
Troopers were able to get the bodies of the four adults out of the plane. They're being sent to the medical examiner’s office, and their names will not be released until next of kin are notified, according to the Department of Public Safety.
It was not immediately clear what may have caused the crash.
The NTSB is investigating.
US Sen. Dan Sullivan, of Alaska, said he'll be getting a briefing from the NTSB and Federal Aviation Administration as they work to figure out what went wrong.
"These tragedies are heartbreaking and unacceptable, which is why aviation safety and infrastructure in Alaska continue to be a top focus of mine," he said in a post on Facebook.
Second crash in less than a week
Less than a week earlier, another plane crashed at a remote military site in western Alaska, killing all eight people on board.
The aircraft had been making its second runway approach in heavy fog and its pilots could not see the gravel airstrip, authorities said.
The Cessna's two pilots could not see the gravel airstrip and were flying solely by instruments when the plane crashed about midday Thursday, Clint Johnson, the National Transportation Safety Board’s Alaska region chief, told a virtual news conference, as per the Associated Press.
Regulations required that they abort their first landing attempt because of the lack of visibility, he said, and the plane crashed on its second attempt, about one-third of a mile (0.5 kilometers) from the runway. The runway is surrounded by mountainous terrain on three sides, and the Federal Aviation Administration recommends pilots use GPS and other instruments when they land there.
On board were the pilots, two employees of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and four contractors. Two of the contractors were employees of Calista Brice, a collection of companies that perform construction, engineering, logistics and other work in remote areas. Calista Brice is a subsidiary of Calista Corp., an Alaska Native regional corporation.
The military has not said what work they were performing at the Cape Newenham Long Range Radar Site, about 450 miles (725 kilometers) west of Anchorage on Alaska's southwest coast.
(With inputs from Associated Press)
