All five passengers a board a small plane died after the aircraft crashed on railroad tracks in southern Alaska, local authorities said Friday.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) confirmed that a single-engine Cessna 180 aircraft had crashed around half a mile from Alaska’s Birchwood Airport on a set of railroad tracks just north of Anchorage, Alaska, around 15 minutes after taking off at 10 a.m. local time.
The Anchorage Police Department later told the Alaska Dispatch that a total of five people had been killed during the accident, identifying the pilot as Lonn Greiner, 46, his mother, Carolyn Greiner, 69, and the pilot’s three children, Glory, Nathan, and Grace, ages 13, 11, and 10, respectively. All of them were from Eagle River, Alaska and were reportedly heading to Seldovia.
Following the crash, the Chugiak Volunteer Fire Department rushed to the scene and put out the flames. The NTSB has launched an investigation into the accident.
