Four people were killed Wednesday afternoon when a small plane crashed into the Seldovia Slough in southern Alaska, officials said.
Their bodies were recovered from the crash site in the waters along the remote coastal community of Seldovia around 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, several hours after the plane went down.
Alaska State Troopers were dispatched to the scene shortly before 1:20 p.m. after receiving a report of the downed aircraft. According to DPS, the Piper PA-24 had departed Merrill Field Airport in Anchorage and crashed while en route to the Seldovia Airport, located about 140 miles away.
Wildlife troopers stationed at Anchor Point and DPS HELO 3, a search-and-rescue helicopter based in Anchorage, also responded to the scene. However, the bodies of the plane's four occupants were not immediately recovered due to the high tide.
State troopers were finally able to reach the crash site that evening after the tide receded and remove the four adults from inside the plane.
An official cause of death has not yet been released for any of the occupants. The National Transportation Safety Board was notified of the incident and is investigating the cause of the crash. NTD reached out for additional information, but a response was not received by publication time.
"These tragedies are heartbreaking and unacceptable, which is why aviation safety and infrastructure in Alaska continue to be a top focus of mine," he wrote. "I’ll get a briefing from the NTSB and the [Federal Aviation Administration] as we work to get to the bottom of this tragedy."
The incident comes just days after eight people were killed in a plane crash near the remote Cape Newenham Long Range Radar Site Airport in southwestern Alaska.
The aircraft, chartered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, had departed from Anchorage and was attempting to land in heavy fog when the Cessna 441 went down on Aug. 20, killing the two pilots and six passengers onboard. The cause of the crash is still under investigation.