Victims of Alaska plane crash identified

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The victims of a sightseeing plane crash in the mountains of Misty Fiords National Monument were identified as two sisters and their husbands on a side trip from an Alaska cruise, as well as the pilot, state troopers said Wednesday.

Authorities were at the heavily forested site Wednesday to remove the five bodies, troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters said.

The single-engine floatplane, a de Havilland Beaver, had left Ketchikan shortly before 1:30 p.m. Tuesday for a tour over Misty Fiords.

Pilot Joseph H. Campbell, 56, of Ketchikan, was flying the plane with cruise passengers Paul J. McManus, 60, and Marianne M. McManus, 56, of Leicester, Mass.; and William F. Eddy and Jeanne J. Eddy, both 59, who had homes in Jacksonville, Fla., and Baltimore, Alaska state troopers said.

Marianne McManus and Jeanne Eddy were sisters, Leicester Police Chief James Hurley said.

Searchers spotted the wreckage in the area where an aircraft distress signal had been picked up, near the south arm of Rudyerd Bay about 35 miles northeast of Ketchikan.

The plane crashed at the 2,400-foot elevation of a steep slope, shearing off the tops of trees and breaking apart, with the fuselage sliding lower than the wings, Laurance said.