All 11 people aboard a Kenmore Air seaplane that crashed on a remote island near Washington’s border with Canada were rescued, after the pilot changed course to avoid a thunderstorm before the aircraft went down on Thursday evening.
The Kenmore seaplane crash rescued everyone on board: the DHC-3 Otter struck a rocky shore along Sucia Island, a state park north of the main San Juan Islands, after veering past sailboats and other vessels. A swift rescue by nearby boats and a helicopter got everyone safely to hospitals.
Three still in hospital, all satisfactory
As of Friday afternoon, three passengers remained hospitalised, all in satisfactory condition, according to the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office. The pilot was among those released. The people aboard had head injuries, broken bones and cuts.
The plane’s operator said the pilot changed course to avoid a thunderstorm before the crash. A passenger, Eastman of Lynnwood, Washington, said Thursday started with nice weather, but a lightning storm hit around the time of the crash, and heavy rain began falling as the plane was burning. Videos showed passengers exiting as black smoke rose, before bright orange flames engulfed the fuselage, which came to rest partially submerged against a large rock.
The same model as the 2022 Seattle crash
The aircraft was a DHC-3 Otter made by de Havilland Aircraft of Canada — the same model as a floatplane that plunged into Puget Sound northwest of Seattle in 2022, killing 10 people. Federal regulators ordered seaplanes inspected afterwards, and investigators found a single component of a critical flight control system had failed. Kenmore Air, a tourism airline based near Seattle, is a different company from the one involved in the 2022 crash.
The cause of Thursday’s crash will be investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board, which may be able to move quickly because investigators can interview the pilot and witnesses and watch videos of the crash. For now, the headline is the rescue: 11 people went down on a rocky shore in a storm — and 11 people came home.
