Plane crash leaves 2 dead, 3 injured in U.S. Alaska

 

Two people died and three others were injured Sunday afternoon in a plane crash on Kodiak Island, U.S. state of Alaska, officials said on Monday.

The Piper PA-32-300 plane took off from Old Harbor and was headed to its base of operations in Kodiak when it crashed in shallow, mountainous terrain in the afternoon, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

The wreckage is located about three miles north of Old Harbor, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Old Harbor is located on the southeast coast of Kodiak Island and is about 70 miles southwest of the City of Kodiak.

A helicopter reached the crash site before 5 p.m., and aircrew found two people died at the scene and three others were injured, the Coast Guard said.

The single-engine plane had been operating as an on-demand charter when the crash happened. It was operated by Vertigo Air Taxi, according to Clint Johnson, the chief of the NTSB's Alaska office.

It was not yet clear what caused the crash. An NTSB investigator traveled to Kodiak early Monday to investigate, Johnson said.

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