Four killed in Piper crash in Seldovia Slough; NTSB investigating

All four people aboard a small plane died Wednesday when the aircraft went down in Seldovia Slough, sinking in shallow water near the shore of the remote coastal community.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the Aug. 26 crash of a Piper PA-24 near Seldovia, the agency confirmed Thursday. The plane had departed Merrill Field Airport in Anchorage and was headed for Seldovia's airport, about 136 miles southwest, when it went down, the Alaska Department of Public Safety said. It came to rest submerged in roughly 15 feet of water in the slough near shore, according to Clint Johnson, the safety board's Alaska region chief. People at the scene tried to reach the plane but could not, Johnson said, and state troopers had to wait for the tide to recede before recovering the four aboard that evening.

State troopers said the names of those killed would not be released until their families are notified.

The crash is the second fatal one in Alaska in less than a week. Alaska News previously covered the Aug. 20 crash of a Security Aviation Cessna 441 on approach to the Cape Newenham Long Range Radar Site airstrip in western Alaska, which killed two pilots and six passengers.

Federal agencies have tracked Alaska's higher aviation accident rate for years. A February 2020 safety board report cited by the Federal Aviation Administration found that from 2008 to 2017, Alaska's overall accident rate was 2.35 times higher than the rest of the United States, and its fatal accident rate 1.34 times higher. The FAA has framed those numbers as a regional safety problem calling for targeted programs, rather than a series of isolated accidents.