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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.
U.S. 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.
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.
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