Two seaplanes collided in mid-air on Monday over southeastern Alaska, three passenger killed, three person are missing while 10 other injured, the US Coast Guard and Federal Aviation Administration officials confirmed on Monday.
The mid-air seaplane crash site lies in the vicinity of a popular tourist lodge that runs excursions to the nearby Misty Fjords National Monument, about 480 km south of Alaska’s capital. According to the preliminary investigation, neither of the single-engine planes was under air traffic control when they collided, and circumstances of the crash were not immediately known.
One aircraft (de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver) had 11 passengers and crew, the other (de Havilland Otter DHC-3) carried only five people aboard, both seaplanes went down over water about 40-48 km northeast of Ketchikan, according to Jon-Paul Rios, Coast Guard Petty Officer from Alaska’s capital.
The FAA spokesman Allen Kenitzer wrote in an email message, citing information from local authorities that the reasons of the plane crash is not clear so far. The status of health of injured people is also unknown.
According to reuters, the Ketchikan-based operator of the larger plane, Taquan Air, said its pilot and nine passengers were rescued and receiving medical attention, but one passenger’s fate remained unknown. That group was returning from a flight-seeing tour of Misty Fjords when the crash occurred, Taquan’s statement reads.
