One Killed, 9 Missing After Aircraft Crashes

One person has been reportedly killed, while rescue crews were searching for nine others after a small plane crashed along the coast of the US state of Washington on Sunday, the coast guard said.

According to US news, the Coast Guard said it received a report of the crash around 3:11 pm (2211 GMT) and dispatched helicopters and boats to scour the area. Local search and rescue officials were also on the scene.

“One deceased individual was recovered by crews on scene. Nine individuals remain unaccounted for, and a safety zone has been put into effect to help facilitate search efforts,” the coast guard said in a statement, adding that no cause for the crash had yet been determined.

The agency said via Twitter Sunday afternoon that the plane was flying from Friday Harbor, a popular tourist destination in the San Juan Islands, to Renton, Washington.

 

Initially, the Coast Guard said the plane was flying to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

The Coast Guard said one body was recovered and nine people remain missing, from the crash that happened in Mutiny Bay, off Whidbey Island, about 40 miles (64 kilometres) northwest of Seattle.

AP News reports that float planes, planes that have pontoons allowing them to land on water, are a common sight around Puget Sound, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean.

There are multiple, daily flights between the Seattle area and the San Juan Islands, a scenic archipelago northwest of Seattle that draws tourists from around the world.

 

 

 

The aircraft, which also fly between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, frequently fly through Seattle and land in a lake not far from the city’s iconic Space Needle. While the Renton, where authorities say the flight was headed Sunday, is at the southern tip of Lake Washington about 10 miles (16 kilometres) southeast of Seattle.