Float plane crashes in Alaska, killing 3

A float plane crashed in southwest Alaska on Tuesday, killing three of the 10 people aboard.

Alaska State Troopers said the DHC-3T Turbine Otter crashed on takeoff from the East Wind Lake near Iliamna, about 280 kilometers southwest of Anchorage, and was reported just before 6:30 a.m. local time.

It took place "300 yards (270 meters) from the airfield," Alaska Air National Guard Staff Sergeant Edward Eagerton was quoted as saying by Alaska Dispatch News.

Troopers confirmed that "there are three fatalities reported, all out-of-state residents."

The plane was headed to a fishing site in the northernmost state, U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) spokesman Clint Johnson said, adding that of those aboard, "there were guests, there were guides and there were obviously the crew on board."

The cause of the crash was not yet known, said media reports reaching here from the northernmost state of the United States.

Among the survivors, Eagerton said, two "determined that they were OK enough that they're going to stay there" and five were flown by an Air National Guard HC-130 cargo plane to Anchorage for additional medical care.

In late June, a similar plane crashed during a flight in Misty Fjords National Park in southeast Alaska, killing the pilot and eight people on a shore excursion from a cruise ship. Endit