Illinois Woman Killed In Alaska Sightseeing Plane Crash: Report

JUNEAU, AK — A Mount Prospect, Illinois, woman has been identified as one of six people who were killed in the crash of a sightseeing plane in Alaska on Thursday.

Janet Kroll, 77, was one of five passengers on the sightseeing plane who died Thursday during the sightseeing trip when the plane crashed in southeast Alaska, the Associated Press reported.

Kroll and the other four passengers were part of a cruise on the Holland America Line ship Nieuw Amsterdam, the cruise line said. The flight was a private excursion by a company that is not part of the cruise line, it said.

The U.S. Coast Guard said the flight went down about 11:20 a.m. Thursday, and it was notified when an emergency positioning indicating radio beacon was activated.

The beacon was registered to a da Havilland Beaver aircraft owned by Southeast Aviation LLC. A helicopter company reported seeing wreckage on a ridgeline in the area near Misty Fjords National Monument, the Coast Guard said.

An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Sitka located the wreckage at 2:37 p.m. and lowered two rescue swimmers who reported no survivors.

"Our hearts are shattered at the loss of six people today," Southeast Aviation said, according to a Komonews report. "We are thinking of and grieving with the families of the five passengers and our dear friend and pilot aboard the aircraft." It said it is cooperating in the investigation.

Recovery efforts were hampered by poor weather, the AP reported.

Ketchikan is a popular port for cruise ships, and sightseeing excursions offer views of the Alaskan landscape, the Komonews report said. Misty Fjords National Monument, a wilderness area, is popular because of its views of glaciers, snow-capped peaks and lakes.

The Coast Guard, Alaska State Troopers, U. S. Forest Service, and Ketchikan Volunteer Rescue Squad responded.