Washington: Floatplane crashes in Puget Sound region near Seattle, 1 dead and 9 injured

According to The Coast Guard, one person has been found dead, and nine others are searched for in the waters after a floatplane crashed in Washington's Puget Sound.

And Just before 6 PM, the agency announced that a dead body had been recovered, which they believe is linked to the floatplane crash off Whidbey Island in Mutiny Bay. They said that eight people were still missing.

Later, The Coast Guard said they were searching for nine people, not eight, which they had previously told. The agency also added that a child was on board the plane.


The number of people involved in the crash?
According to a statement released by the Federal Aviation Administration, the aircraft that went down in Mutiny Bay, off Whidbey Island, at around 3:10 PM on Sunday was a de Havilland DHC-3 Otter floatplane. An initial report suggests that the plane had ten people onboard.



The Coast Guard said that they had placed an 'A surface safety zone' surrounding the place of the plane crash.

The federal agency said they are being assisted by other agencies such as the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, the Island Country Sheriff’s Office, and South Whidbey Fire/EMS in the search operation.

Where was the floatplane headed?
Authorities said that the floatplane was on its way to the Seattle area after it took off from Friday Harbor in Washington, which is approximately 100 miles north of Seattle. And the site where the plane crashed was 40 miles north of Seattle off Whidbey Island.

The National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA will investigate the case.

Floatplanes such as de Havilland use waterways and not runways for takeoffs and landings, and instead of wheels, they have parallel pontoons for that. This type of plane is favored for locations where the runways are relatively short as these are designed as short-takeoff and landing aircraft.