Six Dead In Alaska Sightseeing Plane Crash

Six people who boarded a sightseeing plane were killed Thursday, August 5, when the aircraft crashed in southeast Alaska, the United States coast guard said.

The plane’s emergency alert beacon was activated around 11:20 a.m. (1920 GMT) when the plane crashed in the area of Misty Fjords National Monument, near Ketchikan, the Coast Guard and Federal Aviation Administration said.

A helicopter company reported seeing wreckage on a ridgeline in the search area, and Coast Guard crew members found the wreckage around 2:40 p.m. A Coast Guard helicopter lowered two rescue swimmers to the site, and they reported no survivors, the agency said.

"An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Sitka located the wreckage at 2:37 pm and lowered two rescue swimmers who reported no survivors," it added.

The plane involved, a de Havilland Beaver floatplane — an aircraft that can be supported by floats on water — was carrying five passengers and the pilot and had departed from the Misty Fjords National Monument park.

The passengers were tourists on the Holland America Line cruise ship, Nieuw Amsterdam, the company said on Twitter.

"We can confirm that a floatplane carrying five guests from Nieuw Amsterdam was involved in an accident in Ketchikan, and there are no survivors," the company wrote.

"It was an independent tour not sold by Holland America Line. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of the victims."

The identities of those killed in the crash were not immediately released.