Three Killed After Floatplane Crashes In Alaska

Three people died in the crash of a float plane during an attempted takeoff on Tuesday at a lake in Alaska, and seven others on the aircraft survived, officials said.

Alaska State troopers identified the deceased as Tony Degroot, 80, of Hanford, California; James Fletcher, 70, of Clovis, California and James Specter, 69, of Shavertown, Pennsylvania.

Five people were badly hurt, including some critically, and two others sustained minor injuries, National Transportation Safety Board Alaska Chief Clint Johnson said. “There are a whole host of things right now”, Johnson said, according to Alaska Dispatch News. Edward Eagerton said there were seven survivors of the crash, which troopers said was first reported at about 6:30 a.m.

The Alaska Air National Guard flew six of the more seriously injured survivors to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson near Anchorage and they were then transported to hospital by ambulance, according to the Alaska National Guard.

“In this case, weather and time was a factor”, Eagerton said.

A similar incident in June left nine people dead. Altogether, there were 20 deaths among those crashes, he said.

The aircraft – a De Havilland DHC-3 Turbine Otter – came down among trees near Eastwind Lake.

Johnson said two NTSB investigators were heading to Iliamna on Tuesday and one arrived in the afternoon.

Iliamna is about 175 miles southwest of Anchorage. Rescue personnel initially took injured passengers to a local clinic.

The plane crashed near Dillingham, Alaska, where at least some of the men were on a fishing trip in the plane owned by the Royal King Lodge.

The crash happened just north of the Iliamna Airport, near Eastwind Lake.