Sightseeing plane carrying 9 crashes in Alaska

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Authorities say all nine people aboard a sightseeing airplane died when it crashed Thursday in southeast Alaska.

Clint Johnson, head of the National Transportation Safety Board’s Alaska office, confirmed Thursday evening that weather is preventing the recovery of bodies off a cliff about 20 miles northeast of Ketchikan.

Attempts to recover the bodies will resume today.

The plane was carrying eight cruise ship passengers and a pilot. It went missing Thursday afternoon and crashed against the granite rock face of a cliff.

The DeHavilland DHC-3 Otter turboprop crashed under unknown circumstances above Ella Lake near Ketchikan, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said in an email to the Associated Press.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Lauren Steenson said the agency received a report around 2:15 p.m. that the plane was overdue. Troopers said an emergency locator transmitter activated in the Misty Fjords National Monument, and a helicopter pilot spotted the downed aircraft above Ella Lake, about 800 miles southeast of Anchorage.

Promech Air, an airline based in Ketchikan, operated the shore excursion sold through Holland America Line, the cruise ship company said in a statement. The eight passengers are guests on the Westerdam, which is on a seven-day cruise that departed Seattle on Saturday.

“We are incredibly distressed by this situation, and our thoughts and prayers are with those onboard the plane and their families,” the statement said.

The Ketchikan Daily News reported the Westerdam had been scheduled to leave the city about 20 miles from the crash site at 1 p.m., but it remained in port Thursday.

The airline’s website advertises tours of the Misty Fjord National Monument.

“Towering granite cliffs, 1,000-foot waterfalls, lush and remote valleys and serene crystalline lakes make up this incredible landscape,” it says.