ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - The Latest on a midair collision of two sightseeing floatplanes in Alaska that killed at least four people (all times local):
7:45 p.m.
The Coast Guard says two more bodies have been recovered after two floatplanes collided in Alaska, bringing the death toll to six.
Coast Guard Lt. Brian Dykens said his agency and the Ketchikan Volunteer Rescue Squad found the bodies near the crash site of the smaller plane involved in the collision, a single-engine de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver.
Dykens said a Coast Guard helicopter located the bodies and sent in the Ketchikan volunteers.
The floatplanes carrying cruise ship tourists collided Monday near the southeast Alaska town of Ketchikan and 10 people were rescued.
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5:05 p.m.
Federal accident investigators say one of two flightseeing floatplanes involved in a deadly midair collision in Alaska had descended in altitude when it collided with the other aircraft.
Spokesman Peter Knudson with the National Transportation Safety Board says the larger of the planes, a single-engine de Havilland Otter operated by Taquan Air, was initially traveling at an altitude of about 3,800 feet (1,158 meters).
He says the plane had descended to an altitude of 3,200 to 3,300 feet (over 1,000 meters) when it collided with the smaller plane, a single-engine de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver, as both headed to Ketchikan with cruise ship passengers. Knudson says the Beaver had been flying at a 3,300-foot altitude.
The Coast Guard has confirmed at least four were killed. Two others are missing. Ten people survived the crash with injuries.
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4:25 p.m.
Three survivors of a deadly midair collision near a southeast Alaska town have been released from a hospital.
Hospital officials say the three were released Tuesday from PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center in Ketchikan. Hospital spokeswoman Marty West says three others are in fair condition.
Four others were initially treated at the hospital following Monday’s collision of two sightseeing floatplanes. Those survivors were later flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with injuries that include broken bones.
The planes that crashed Monday were carrying a total of 16 people - 14 cruise ship passengers and the pilots.
The Coast Guard said four people died in the collision near Ketchikan, a popular destination for cruise ships. A search continues for two passengers, from Canada and Australia.
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7:55 a.m.
Authorities say four of the 10 people injured after two sightseeing floatplanes collided in midair near the Alaska town of Ketchikan were flown to a Seattle hospital for treatment.
Harborview Medical Center spokeswoman Susan Gregg says their injuries include “fractures to ribs, pelvis, arm and spine.”
Gregg said Tuesday morning that a 67-year-old man is in serious condition in intensive care. She says the three other patients are two women and a man in their 60s and that they are in satisfactory condition.
In Alaska, PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center spokesman Marty West says the other six patients are in good or fair condition.
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7 a.m.
Officials have confirmed that a Canadian is among four people who were killed in Alaska when two floatplanes carrying cruise ship passengers collided in midair.
Global Affairs Canada said in an emailed statement Tuesday that the name and hometown of the victim is not being made public for privacy reasons.
The Canadian government department expressed condolences to relatives of the victim.
A team of federal airplane accident investigators is expected to arrive in Alaska Tuesday to probe the cause of the crash.
Passengers from the cruise ship Royal Princess were on the sightseeing flights.
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6 a.m.
A team of federal airplane accident investigators is expected to arrive in Alaska to investigate the cause of a midair collision between two sightseeing planes that killed at least four people.
The Coast Guard says the four died when the floatplanes carrying cruise ship tourists collided Monday near the southeast Alaska town of Ketchikan, the Coast Guard said. Coast Guard spokesman Petty Officer Jon-Paul Rios also says two others are missing.
The Washington, D.C.-based investigative team from the National Transportation Safety Board was expected to arrive in Ketchikan Tuesday afternoon.
The Federal Aviation Administration says the floatplanes collided under unknown circumstances. Floatplanes have pontoons mounted under their fuselages so they can land on water.
The passengers from the cruise ship Royal Princess were on sightseeing flights.
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