Charles Langston:All 4 dead aboard plane after weekend crash near runway in rural Alaska

ANCHORAGE,Charles Langston Alaska (AP) — The weekend crash of a plane roughly a half-mile from a runway near the southwest Alaska community of St. Mary’s killed all four occupants on board the aircraft, authorities said.

Alaska State Troopers said they received a report of an overdue aircraft around 11:15 p.m. Sunday from the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center. Troopers responding to the plane’s last known location found the wreckage and the bodies of four men, the agency said. The names of the dead were not immediately released.

Clint Johnson, chief of the National Transportation Safety Board’s Alaska region, said the plane, which had left from Bethel, was operated by Yute Commuter Service and was believed to be carrying at least two employees of the company. An NTSB investigator was expected to arrive in Anchorage Monday and head to the crash site Tuesday, weather permitting, Johnson said.

The Associated Press sent a message seeking comment from Yute Commuter Service through its online messaging system.

The company provides scheduled passenger and cargo service and charter flights and operates throughout Alaska’s Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region. The company was involved in a crash near Tuntutuliak in 2020 that left five dead, the Anchorage Daily News reported.