Another Taquan Air DHC Crash in Alaska This Week
These sightseeing planes and helos are deadly. The NTSB team staying in Ketchikan led by Board Member Jennifer Homendy will file for more per diem.
Two dead in Taquan Air crash in Metlakatla Harbor, borough says
ANCHORAGE (KTUU) - Two people are dead after a crash in the Metlakatla Harbor, a spokesperson for the Ketchikan Gateway Borough wrote in a release Monday evening.
A Taquan Air Beaver airplane with a pilot and passenger on board crashed at about 4 p.m. Deanna Thomas, the spokesperson, wrote. The circumstances of the crash were not available.
The National Transportation Safety Board director for Alaska said the agency had received word of the incident at about 4:30 p.m.
The Coast Guard had sent a helicopter from Air Station Sitka and a response boat from Ketchikan to try to rescue the plane's occupants, but a Coast Guard spokesperson said Metlakatla Police, Good Samaritans, emergency medical services and Troopers had all responded.
Thomas, with the Borough, said a seining boat was the first to reach the scene of the crash.
Taquan Air is the operator of one of two planes that collided near Ketchikan last week, killing six people between the 16 on board both planes. A public relations spokesperson hired by the company reached Monday evening said he didn't have any further information at the time.
A Good Samaritan boat was towing the plane to shore until it could be secured.
This is a developing story and will be updated with more information as we receive it.
