Four dead after Piper aircraft goes down in Alaska coastal slough

A Piper PA-24-260 crashed into the Seldovia Slough near the remote town of Seldovia, Alaska, on Wednesday, killing all four adult occupants. The plane, which had departed from Anchorage's Merrill Field, was found fully submerged in about 15 feet of water, and recovery efforts had to wait for the tide to recede. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating, and the victims' identities will be released after family notifications.

The downed Piper PA-24-260 had departed Merrill Field in Anchorage, bound for Seldovia’s airport roughly 136 miles to the southwest. The crash occurred at 1:18 p.m., with the aircraft coming to rest fully submerged in the slough’s 15-foot-deep water near shore. Recovery crews, including a helicopter team and troopers arriving by boat, had to wait for the tide to fall before retrieving the four adult victims at about 6:30 p.m. Their bodies were sent to the state medical examiner’s office for autopsy, with names withheld pending family notification.

This incident follows a separate fatal crash last week at a remote western Alaska military site, where a Cessna carrying eight people went down during a second landing attempt in heavy fog, killing all aboard. In that case, pilots were flying solely on instruments after aborting the first approach due to poor visibility. The NTSB is now investigating both accidents, which highlight the challenges of flying in Alaska’s rugged, weather-prone terrain.