All five people died after a Yute Commuter Service plane leaving Bethel on its way to Kipnuk crashed 12 miles (19 kilometers) south of Tuntutuliak on Thursday, Alaska State Troopers said.
A recovery team found the first body Thursday and the remaining four bodies on Friday, Anchorage Daily News reported.
The recovery team was made up of troopers, volunteers from Tuntutuliak, the Bethel Fire Department and the National Transportation Safety Board.
The site of the crash is only accessible by snowmachine and air, Troopers public information officer Tim DeSpain said. The wreckage is in an area of flat, snow-covered tundra, said Clinton Johnson, chief of the Alaska Regional Office of the NTSB.
The bodies will be sent to the state medical examiner to confirm their identities, troopers said. The department is in the process of notifying next of kin.
The flight was reported overdue Thursday and was later found crashed, authorities said. The Piper PA32 plane crashed under unknown circumstances, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer said.
The wreckage will likely be taken to Bethel or Anchorage, Johnson said. Safety Board investigations of this nature tend to take up to 18 months, he said.
Tuntutuliak is located about 435 miles (700 kilometers) west of Anchorage.
Source: AP
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