Two people are dead after a floatplane operated by Taquan Air went down near Annette Island late Monday afternoon.
The pilot and one passenger were the only people on board the de Havilland Beaver plane. They will not be identified until next of kin have been notified. (Editor’s note: The two victims were identified on Tuesday.)
The cause of the crash is under investigation.
According to a news release, a seine boat was first on scene for Monday’s crash, followed by members of the Metlakatla Volunteer Fire Department. Other responders included the Coast Guard, Ketchikan Volunteer Rescue Squad and good Samaritans.
Metlakatla resident Lindarae Shearer said she heard about the crash from her husband, who called her shortly after 4 p.m.
“(He) told me that a plane had flipped over in the bay here,” she said. “That’s … in our waters, within our borders. It went down in the waters of Annette Island.”
Metlakatla is on Annette Island, a quick plane or ferry trip from Ketchikan.
Shearer said the local response was immediate.
“The police were there in full force,” she said. “All the medical EMTs were down there at the floats, waiting for people to be brought ashore.”
Shearer said she didn’t see the incident happen, but she watched the rescue efforts.
“I could see that the plane was upside down. The pontoons were sticking up out of the water,” she said. “There were boats around it. I guess they were trying to rescue people.”
Shearer runs a lodging business and said one of the people on board the plane was going to stay with her for three nights.
She said the community is grief-stricken by the accident.
“We all feel this,” she said. “The first thing that we feel is for the families of the people that this tragedy happened to.”
This accident comes a week after a fatal mid-air collision involving floatplanes from Taquan Air and Mountain Air Service. In that crash, six people died and 10 survived.
Taquan initially suspended all flights following the May 13 crash but later resumed service.
