SELDOVIA, Alaska (AP) , A small aircraft went down in shallow waters beside a remote Alaskan coastal community on Wednesday, with rescuers having to hold off their response until the tide receded, officials said.
It was not immediately known how many people had been aboard or whether there were any survivors.
The plane went down shortly after departing the airport in the small coastal town of Seldovia, located roughly 136 miles (219 kilometers) southwest of Anchorage, according to Clint Johnson, the National Transportation Safety Board’s Alaska region chief. Johnson said the aircraft came to rest submerged in approximately 15 feet (4.6 meters) of water in the Seldovia Slough close to the shoreline.
According to the NTSB, the Piper PA-24-260 had a capacity of one to four people.
State troopers planned to wait for the tide to go out Wednesday evening before they could reach the wreckage, Johnson said.
“Hopefully we’ll have a little bit more information as far as the condition of the wreckage and obviously the number of folks on board after the troopers make it to the site there,” he said.
The NTSB is looking into the crash.
Less than a week earlier, a separate plane went down at a remote military installation in western Alaska, killing all eight occupants. Authorities said the aircraft had been attempting its second runway approach in heavy fog and the pilots were unable to see the gravel airstrip.