The Alaska Rescue Coordination Center was notified at 11:41 that a Cessna 185 crashed 13 miles northeast of Chitna when the aircraft’s Emergency Locator Transmitter was set of, troopers report.

The RCC immediately responded to the remote location and located the crash site along a wooded slope but would find no survivors.

Alaska State Troopers and the National Park Service also worked to get into the area to perform body recoveries.

The chartered aircraft was reported to also have mail bound for McCarthy when it  went down.

The National Transportation Safety Board investigators suspect that the aircraft may have broken up mid-air as there were two different debris sites 200 yards apart. One site contained the fuselage, wings and engine while the other had the tail section of the aircraft.

Wreckage retrieval will be hampered by rough terrain at the remote location.

  aircraft, cessna, chitina, crash, debis, fatalities