One person has died and 9 people are missing, including a child, after a floatplane crashed in Puget Sound in Washington state, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
The agency said in a press release the plane was flying from Friday Harbor, a popular tourist destination in the San Juan Islands, to Renton, a southern suburb of Seattle, on Sunday afternoon, September 4.
The Coast Guard said it received a report of the crash around 3:11 pm (2211 GMT) and dispatched helicopters and boats to scour the area. Local search and rescue officials were also on the scene.
“One deceased individual was recovered by crews on scene. Nine individuals remain unaccounted for, and a safety zone has been put into effect to help facilitate search efforts,” the coast guard said in a statement. The cause of the crash was unknown, authorities said.
The plane went down in Mutiny Bay off Whidbey Island, roughly 30 miles northwest of downtown Seattle and about halfway between Friday Harbor and Renton.
The National Transportation Safety Board said the plane was a de Havilland DHC-3 Otter, a single-engine propeller plane.
