Four Identified After Plane Crash in Seldovia, Alaska

Alaska State Troopers identified the four people who died when a Piper PA-24 aircraft crashed into Seldovia Slough on Wednesday. The 68-year-old pilot, Eric Middlebrook, was from Alaska, while the three passengers – 65-year-old Ronald Schmidt, 20-year-old Lance Schmidt, and 82-year-old Daniel Simons – were residents of California.

The aircraft, departing from Merrill Field Airport bound for Seldovia, struck the water near the slough and sank after the crash was reported at 1:18 p.m. Troopers recovered the bodies from the submerged plane around 6:30 p.m., after the tide receded, and forwarded them to the State Medical Examiner’s Office for autopsy. Relatives of the victims have been notified, and the National Transportation Safety Board has been assigned to investigate the incident.