Coast Guard searching for plane with 6 on board in Alaska

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard was responding Thursday to an emergency alert from a sightseeing plane with six people on board in the area around southeast Alaska’s Misty Fjords National Monument, a spokesperson said.

Chief Petty Officer Kip Wadlow said the Coast Guard received an initial notification around 11:20 a.m. The location of the emergency beacon put it in the Misty Fjords area, northeast of Ketchikan, he said.

The missing plane, a de Havilland Beaver, was owned by Southeast Aviation LLC, Wadlow said. A message left at the sightseeing company in Ketchikan was not immediately returned to The Associated Press on Thursday.

The company on its website says it provides sightseeing tours to Misty Fjords National Monument and bear-viewing sites, along with air charters to other communities in southeast Alaska.

The Coast Guard was told by the plane’s operator that five passengers and a pilot were on board, he said.

Wadlow did not have details on when the plane took off. Coast Guard responders were dispatched, he said.

There had been light rain and mist in the area, with visibility at about 3.5 miles (5.63 kilometers), Wadlow said.

Calls and messages to the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were not immediately returned.

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