US Air Force airmen search for debris that could damage aircraft on the flight line at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska April 26, 2019. Two seaplanes crash off Alaska May 13, 2109. — US Air Force/Dana Rosso handout via Reuters
ANCHORAGE, May 14 — Two seaplanes collided in mid-air yesterday over southeastern Alaska, killing at least three of those aboard, injuring 10 others and leaving three people missing, US Coast Guard and Federal Aviation Administration officials said.
The two aircraft — one with 11 passengers and crew, the other with five people aboard — went down over water about 40 to 48 km northeast of Ketchikan, according to Coast Guard Petty Officer Jon-Paul Rios, speaking from Juneau.
The crash site, which the FAA said was at Coon Cove near George Inlet, lies in the vicinity of a popular tourist lodge that runs excursions to the nearby Misty Fjords National Monument, about 480 km south of Juneau, Alaska's capital.
One of the aircraft involved was a de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver with five people aboard, and the other was a de Havilland Otter DHC-3 carrying 11 people, FAA spokesman Allen Kenitzer said in an email message, citing information from local authorities.
Rios initially reported 10 people from the two planes were receiving medical care, with six others listed as unaccounted for. He later said three of the missing had been confirmed as dead. The conditions of the six injured victims were not immediately known, he said.
Neither of the single-engine planes was under air traffic control when they collided, and circumstances of the crash were not immediately known, Kenitzer said. — Reuters