6 people are dead after a sightseeing plane crashes in Alaska

By Andy Rose and Mallika Kallingal, CNN

Six people are dead after a sightseeing plane crashed in southeast Alaska on Thursday, according to the US Coast Guard.

“An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Sitka located the wreckage at 2:37 p.m. and lowered two rescue swimmers who reported no survivors,” the Coast Guard said in a statement.

There were five passengers and one pilot aboard the aircraft, identified by officials as a floatplane, operated by the sightseeing company Southeast Aviation.

There was mist and light rain in the area at the time of the crash, according to the Coast Guard, with moderate winds and two-mile visibility.

Alaska State Troopers and the Coast Guard began their search after it went missing earlier Thursday, alerted to the area by an emergency position-indicating radio beacon which automatically provides its location in a distress call, Coast Guard Petty Officer Kip Wadlow told CNN.

The distress beacon had put the aircraft near Ketchikan in the vicinity of Misty Fjords National Monument, a popular tourist attraction often viewed from planes that can take off and land on water.

The five passengers were guests aboard a Holland America Line cruise ship, the company confirmed. The Nieuw Amsterdam is on a seven-day Alaska cruise that departed Seattle last Saturday.

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