Small plane crash in western Alaska kills 4

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A plane crash near the remote western Alaska village of Saint Marys killed four of the 10 people aboard, including an infant boy, an Alaska State Troopers spokeswoman said Saturday.

The pilot and three passengers died in the Friday night crash, spokeswoman Megan Peters said.

There was no immediate word on the condition of the other passengers, Peters said.

The single-engine, turboprop Cessna 208 was Era Alaska’s Flight 37, National Transportation Safety Board investigator Clint Johnson said.

A man who answered the phone at Era Alaska’s Saint Marys office said he couldn’t provide any information. Associated Press calls to Era headquarters were not immediately returned. The commercial carrier serves Alaska communities.

The plane was en route from Bethel to Saint Marys when it was reported missing about 7 p.m. Friday, Peters said. The wreckage was found at about 8:30 p.m. about four miles east of the village.

Troopers and an air ambulance service responded to the scene, Peters said.

The dead were identified as pilot Terry Hansen, Rose Polty and Richard Polty and the infant, Wyatt Coffee.

The survivors included Melanie Coffee, Pauline Johnson, Kylan Johnson, Tonya Lawrence, Garrett Moses and Shannon Lawrence.

No ages or hometowns were immediately available, Peters said.

An emergency locator beacon signal helped pinpoint the crash site, Johnson said.

Johnson said he believed a rescue crew from the village was the first to reach the crash site in an area he described as rolling hills.

There was no immediate word on what might have cause the crash. The NTSB planned to send two investigators to the scene Saturday. A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman didn’t immediately respond to an email requesting crash information.

The temperature in the area Friday night was about 18 degrees.