Alaska Airlines Flight 3296, which was operated by Peninsula Airways, went off the Unalaska-Dutch Harbor Airport runway at around 5:40 p.m. Thursday. The flight departed from Anchorage and was set to land in Unalaska.
According to Aviation-Safety.net, the aircraft “overran the end of the runway, crossed a road and came to rest on a rocky surface at the edge of the water of Dutch Harbor,” which is located on Amaknak Island in Unalaska.
“Propeller blades of the no.1 engine broke off, puncturing the fuselage,” Aviation-Safety.net explained, referring to the main body of the aircraft.
Two people were critically injured as a result of the incident. One of them, passenger David Allan Oltman, 38, died as a result of his wounds, Alaska State Troopers said Friday, ABC News reported.
None of the members of the swim team from a high school in Cordova, Alaska, were injured.
“At present, all students and chaperones are accounted for and are okay, albeit a bit shaken up,” reads a statement by Superintendent Alex Russin on the school district’s website.
According to Peninsula Airways, it is still working with the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to assist those who were onboard the flight. In addition, the NTSB is currently investigating the cause of the incident. The Alaska Departments of Transportation and Public Facilities are both aware of the incident.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to all of our passengers and crew, and the family members of everyone with loved ones on this flight,” Peninsula Airways CEO Dave Pflieger said in a statement obtained by the New York Post.