Bystanders raced to help those onboard the Cessna 206 after it clipped the roof of a motel and crashed in front of an unoccupied former car lot office, sparking a fire Tuesday evening. No other injuries were reported.
“It was the citizens who did the work and pulled people out,” police Lt. Dave Parker said.
A witness, Hunter Brosh, said a girl was among those pulled out alive. Brosh was one of the motorists who jumped out of their cars to help get people out of the burning plane.
Anchorage police said in a statement late Tuesday that 16-year-old Rachel Zientak of Texas was one of the injured passengers and was to be transferred to a Seattle hospital.
Also onboard were the pilot of the aircraft, 34-year-old Preston Cavner; his wife, 32-year-old Stacie Cavner; and their son, 2-year-old Hudson, police said. The three will be flown to a hospital in Portland, Oregon. Authorities identified the 4-year-old boy who died as another son of the couple, Miles Cavner.
The single-engine plane was registered to Cavner and Julian Inc., a guide and outfitting business based in Port Alsworth, Alaska.
Police said the Cavners operate a lodge at Port Alsworth, Alaska, and Zientak was one of their employees.
Jennifer Rodi, a National Transportation Safety Board investigator, said it was too early to say what caused the crash.
The aircraft went down after departing Merrill Field about a mile away.
Rodi said the four survivors were critically injured.
However, Brosh said the girl onboard was able to unbuckle herself before she was helped out of the wreckage.
