Authorities: Two dead in plane crash on Kenai Peninsula

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Two men are presumed dead after a small plane crashed into Crescent Lake on the Kenai Peninsula on Tuesday.

Alaska Wildlife Troopers reported they were notified shortly after 2 p.m. Tuesday of a Super Cub that two hikers saw crash in the lake – in the mountains between Cooper Landing and Moose Pass. Troopers, with assistance from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, dispatched a rescue helicopter to the area, where they found debris in the lake and “no survivors in the water or on the shore.”

Clint Johnson, Alaska regional chief for the National Transportation and Safety Board, said the plane was a Piper PA-18 with floats that took off from Moose Pass on Tuesday and was reported delayed.

An Alaska Air National Guard rescue team could not find either man when it arrived on scene, troopers said.

Johnson said search teams had found “bits and pieces” of the plane, but most of the wreckage had sunk into the lake.

“We don’t know how low the plane is,” Johnson said. “There were some witnesses at Crescent Lake who apparently saw this accident. The NTSB is currently trying to talk to those witnesses to get a good report of what they saw. But my understanding is that they are still on the scene and hopefully that will be done by the end of the day.”

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