Update | 4:38 p.m.
Three are dead after a plane registered to a Wrangell-based charter airline crashed on Admiralty Island Friday.
Four people were traveling on a Sunrise Aviation Cessna 206 between Wrangell and Angoon. Only one female passenger survived, according Sitka Mountain Rescue Captain Lance Ewers.
The Coast Guard received an emergency alert in the morning indicating the aircraft was in distress.
A Coast Guard helicopter located the downed plane 20 miles southeast of Angoon, but was unable to land due to turbulent winds. Members of Sitka Mountain Rescue were called in. Ewers said the team was dropped off 600 yards below the wreckage, which is located in snowy, alpine terrain.
“To everyone’s disbelief, they found one of the four passengers was alive,” Ewers said. “Then they immediately started mounting an effort to get her out of the plane where they could insert her into the helicopter.
Ewers is helping guide the team remotely from Sitka. The female survivor is being medevacd to Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau. Her medical condition in unknown.
State business licensing documents for Sunrise Aviation identify two owners: Tyler Robinson and David Galla. Both are listed with Wrangell mailing addresses.
FAA records show that both men are licensed commercial pilots.
Update | 4:08 p.m.
Lance Ewers, captain of Sitka Mountain Rescue, confirmed that three passengers on the flight did not survive. One passenger is being medevaced to Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau.
-Elizabeth Jenkins
Original story
A plane crashed on Admiralty Island Friday morning southeast of Angoon after departing from Wrangell. A search for survivors is underway.
The Coast Guard received a distress signal this morning, and a commercial aircraft located wreckage from a Cessna 206. The plane is registered to Sunrise Aviation, a charter flight company in Wrangell.
According to a Coast Guard news release, there were four passengers on board.
A Coast Guard helicopter was unable to land at the crash site, so a team from Sitka Mountain Rescue will conduct a ground search.
The flight was heading to Angoon.
