Alaska Plane Crash: 21-Year-Old Woman Is Pulled From Wreckage In Critical Condition, Three Others Killed
A 21-year-old woman from Ketchikan was the sole survivor of a horrifying plane crash that left three passengers dead. The Cessna 206 went down on Admiralty Island just south of Juneau on Friday. The windy weather conditions at the time of the crash made it impossible for a rescue helicopter to land at the crash site so rescuers were dropped at a location nearby before hiking 400 feet up a mountain in the snowy conditions to reach the plane and ultimately pull 21-year-old Morgan Enright from the wreckage alive.
Alaska Dispatch News reports that Morgan Enright, 21, was the sole survivor of a deadly plane crash near the village of Angoon. While the reason for the crash was not disclosed, it was reported by the US Coast Guard that conditions were too windy for crews to land emergency rescue helicopters at the crash site. Therefore, the Sitka rescue team was lowered as close to the rescue site as possible which required them to hike up a 400 snowy mountain to reach the wreckage. Once on site, the rescue team found Morgan alive alongside three other deceased passengers.
The woman was flown to a hospital in Juneau but has since been transferred to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for treatments and is listed in critical condition. Troopers identified the three deceased victims of the Alaska plane crash as 60-year-old pilot David Galla, 61-year-old Greg Scheff and 57-year-old Thomas Siekawitch, all of Wrangell.
Morgan Enright was reportedly on her way to Angoon to work on a ferry terminal project for a company that her father owns called Ketchikan Ready-Mix and Quarry. Enright was also identified as the daughter of Chere Klein who has worked as a legislative staffer and ran for the Alaska state House in 2014. Though the exact cause of the crash was not released, officials note that the emergency beacon went off notifying the Coast Guard that the plane was in trouble. The Coast Guard says that in addition to receiving notification from the emergency beacon, the company who owned the Cessna 206, Sunrise Aviation, also contacted them for assistance.
“When the beacon was activated, a commercial helicopter diverted its course and found the wreckage while the Coast Guard launched its own helicopter from Air Station Sitka. The Coast Guard’s helicopter was unable to land due to the terrain, so it returned to Sitka to pick up members of the Sitka Mountain Rescue group. The helicopter returned to the crash site and lowered the rescuers to the ground.”
Since the rescue of Morgan, the crews have also secured the bodies of the deceased from the wreckage and the plane crash is being investigated. Meanwhile, family and friends of the passengers are mourning the loss of their loved ones with the sister-in-law of deceased passenger Tom Siekawitch taking to Facebook to disclose the sad news.
https://www.facebook.com/jonirockstar/posts/10209080964052407
Friends of Morgan Enright have also taken to social media to pray for their friend’s recovery.
https://www.facebook.com/kiana.lucas.1/posts/1144063622312467
During one of the exchanges on Facebook, an alleged friend of Morgan states that she is breathing on her own and that the family and hospital staff are “optimistic.”
This isn’t the first time a plane crash has turned deadly in Alaska, as the Inquisitr previously reported, nine Holland America cruise passengers died while participating in a shore excursion. The nine passengers died when the plane smashed into the side of a cliff in southeast Alaska just above Ella Lake. The cruise line excursion details note that the plane ride was supposed to last just 75-minutes. Guests were to hop aboard a tour optimized floatplane for a sightseeing tour over Ketchikan and the “enchanted region of the Inside Passage.” The guide notes that each trip will include landing on the surface of a lake or fjord.
[Image via Facebook/ Morgan Enright]
