Four people were killed Wednesday when a small plane went down in shallow water near a remote coastal community in Alaska, officials said.
The aircraft, identified as a Piper PA-24-260, had departed Merrill Field Airport in Anchorage and was traveling to the airport in Seldovia when it crashed at about 1:18 p.m., the Alaska Department of Public Safety said in a statement.
Seldovia Airport is located roughly 136 miles southwest of Anchorage.
“Alaska State Troopers were notified that a small plane had crashed in the Seldovia Slough,” the department said.
A Piper PA-24-260 crashed into shallow waters near a remote coastal town in Alaska, killing all four people on board. (Getty Images)
Authorities sent a helicopter crew from Anchorage to the scene, while additional troopers traveled by boat from Anchor Point.
After the crash, the plane was fully submerged in about 15 feet of water in the Seldovia Slough near shore, according to Clint Johnson, chief of the National Transportation Safety Board’s Alaska region.
Troopers had to wait for the tide to recede before they could access the aircraft.
Once the tide level dropped at about 6:30 p.m., troopers were able to retrieve the bodies of the four adult victims from the plane.
The aircraft was heading for an airport in the small town of Seldovia after taking off from Merrill Field Airport in Anchorage when it crashed. (Getty Images)
The bodies will be sent to the state medical examiner’s office for autopsy. The victims’ names will be released once next of kin are notified, according to the Alaska Department of Public Safety.
It remains unclear what may have caused the crash.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.
This comes after another plane crashed last week at a remote military site in western Alaska, killing all eight people on board. That aircraft had been making its second runway approach in heavy fog, and its pilots were struggling to see the gravel airstrip, according to officials.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
In that incident, the Cessna’s two pilots were flying solely by instruments when the plane crashed. Regulations required that the pilots abort their first landing attempt because of the lack of visibility, and the plane crashed on its second attempt, about one-third of a mile from the runway.
