A floatplane carrying fishing guides and clients crashed on Tuesday near a scenic lake in rural southwest Alaska, killing three of the out-of-state clients and injuring all seven other people on board, some critically, authorities said.
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Two of the seven survivors from the plane were healthy enough to stay in Iliamna at a clinic, and the five others were transported to Anchorage hospitals for treatment, he said. The aircraft, a De Havilland DHC-3 Turbine Otter on floats, reportedly ended up in the trees at the end of the lake, but the cause of the crash was not immediately clear.
The crash happened just north of the Iliamna Airport, near Eastwind Lake.
The plane was owned by a company that caters to tourists that flock to the region every summer to go fishing. Calls to the business went unanswered.
The Alaska Air National Guard flew six of the more seriously injured survivors to Anchorage. Two others sustained minor injuries.
The surviving passengers are reported to be injured, but details on their conditions has not been released. “Way too early for any speculation”, Johnson said.
The FAA and the NTSB will investigate the crash.
Tuesday’s crash marked the state’s ninth plane crash this year, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer reportedly said.
“They were headed to a fishing site from there”, Johnson said.
In late June, a similar plane crashed during a flight in Misty Fjords National Park in southeast Alaska, killing the pilot and eight people on a shore excursion from a cruise ship.
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Alaska state troopers said in a statement that the three people on the plane who died in the crash were from outside Alaska.
