Six people die after a sightseeing plane crashes in southeast Alaska on Thursday, according to the US Coast Guard.
“An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Sitka located the wreckage at 2:37 p.m. and lowered two rescue swimmers who reported no survivors,” the Coast Guard said in a statement.
There were five passengers and one pilot aboard the aircraft, identified by officials as a floatplane, run by the sightseeing company Southeast Aviation.
There was mist and light rain in the region at the time of the crash, according to the Coast Guard, with moderate winds and two-mile visibility.
After the plane went missing, Alaska State Troopers and the Coast Guard began their search earlier on Thursday, alerted to the area by an emergency position-indicating radio beacon which automatically provides its location in a distress call, according to the Coast Guard Petty Officer.
Ketchikan Volunteer Rescue Squad personnel land and disembark from a Hughes 369D helicopter on Thursday, Aug. 5, 2021, at Temsco Helicopters Inc in Ketchikan, Alaska.
The distress beacon had put the aircraft near Ketchikan in the proximity of Misty Fjords National Monument, a famous tourist attraction often viewed from planes that can take off and land on water.