Langley, Washington: Monday, the Coast Guard called off the search for nine individuals missing after a floatplane crashed in the Puget Sound north of Seattle on Sunday.
The plane was carrying ten people, including a child, when it crashed. Sunday, Good Samaritans and first responders got on the area and recovered a body, according to the Coast Guard.
Capt. Daniel Broadhurst, Incident Management Branch Chief for the 13th Coast Guard District, stated in a statement, “It is always painful when the time comes to end the search.” All first responders’ hearts go out to those who lost a family member, loved one, or friend in the accident.
The National Transportation Safety Board will conduct an investigation into the crash’s cause. A remotely operated Coast Guard vehicle will continue to aid the NTSB in its search for wreckage and debris submerged in the ocean.
The Coast Guard had reported that crews aboard patrol boats stayed at the scene throughout the night. Due to FAA constraints, aircraft searches were momentarily suspended but resumed along with boat crews on Monday morning.
The Coast Guard reported that it had undertaken a total of 26 search sorties, searching a total of 1,283 nautical miles of rail line across an area of about 2,100 square nautical miles.
According to a news release from the agency, the plane was travelling from Friday Harbor, a famous tourist site in the San Juan Islands, to Renton, a southern Seattle suburb.
Four Coast Guard vessels, a rescue helicopter, and an airplane, together with nearby rescue and law enforcement organizations, participated in the comprehensive search. The Coast Guard announced late Sunday night that two vessels would continue searching during the night and that aviation patrols would resume at first light.
The incident was reported around 15:11 hours.
The aircraft crashed in Mutiny Bay off Whidbey Island, approximately 30 miles northwest of Seattle and midway between Friday Harbor and Renton.
The National Transportation Safety Board identified the plane as a single-engine propeller de Havilland DHC-3 Otter.
Floatplanes, which are equipped with pontoons for water landings, are a familiar sight in Puget Sound, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean. There are many daily flights between the Seattle area and the San Juan Islands, a picturesque archipelago northwest of Seattle that attracts visitors from around the globe.
These planes, which also operate between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, typically soar over Seattle and land near the city’s recognizable Space Needle in Lake Washington.
Sunday’s flight was reportedly en route to Renton, which is at the southern point of Lake Washington, about 10 miles southeast of Seattle.
Six persons perished in a midair collision between two tourist planes in Alaska in 2019. The Ketchikan-based floatplanes were returning from excursions of Misty Fjords National Monument with guests from the same cruise liner, the Royal Princess.