At 4:07 pm on Tuesday, the Alaska State Troopers received a report of an aircraft down in the vicinity of Petersburg in southeast Alaska.

It was reported that a Pacific Wings DeHavilland Beaver carrying six passengers and the pilot had been reported crashed near Thunder Mountain in LaConte Bay while on a flight-seeing flight. The passengers have been identified as going on the trip from the cruise ship “Seabird.”

The activation of the Emergency locator beacon aboard the aircraft, and the loss of communication between the aircraft and Pacific Wings dispatch alerted the authorities of an incident.

The United States Coast Guard watchstanders alerted Air Station Sitka, and an MH-60 Jayhawk Helicopter and crew were launched. Temco Helicopters also dispatched aircraft to the scene, as did Sunrise Aviation.

At approximately 6:50 pm, three civilian helicopters were first to the scene, followed shortly after by the Coast Guard Jayhawk. Flight crews soon located one of the plane’s survivors at the 1,000-foot level near Thunder Mountain in the proximity of the crash site. A Coast Guard rescue swimmer was lowered to the ground and assessed the situation.

It was found then that six of the crash victims had survived with serious but non-life threatening injuries. The seventh, identified as 66-year-old Santa Fe resident Thomas L. Rising, died in the crash.

At 8:20 pm, the surviving victims were transported to Petersburg for treatment of their injuries.

It was reported by Alaska State troopers via dispatch that because of on-coming darkness and worsening weather conditions, the deceased victim, who was still trapped in the wreckage was left behind. Troopers are working in conjunction with the USCG, NTSB, Juneau Mountain Rescue and Pacific Wings to develop a plan to recover the remains on Wednesday. Rising’s next of kin were notified.

The specific cause of the crash is still undetermined. The investigation into the crash is continuing.