NewzSELDOVIA, Alaska (AP) — A small plane crashed into shallow waters next to a remote coastal town in Alaska on Wednesday, and rescuers were forced to wait for the tide to go out in order to reach it, according to officials. It was not immediately clear how many people were on board and whether anyone survived. The plane crashed just after taking off from the airport in the small coastal town of Seldovia, about 136 miles (219 kilometers) southwest of Anchorage, according to Clint Johnson, the National Transportation Safety Board’s Alaska region chief.
The aircraft was submerged in about 15 feet (4.6 meters) of water in the Seldovia Slough near the shore, he said. The Piper PA-24-260 was able to hold one to four people, according to the NTSB. State troopers were waiting for the tide to go out Wednesday evening in order to reach the aircraft, according to Johnson.
“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 investigating the crash. Less than a week earlier, another plane crashed at a remote military site in western Alaska, killing all eight people on board.
The aircraft had been making its second runway approach in heavy fog and its pilots could not see the gravel airstrip, authorities said.
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