Three people are believed to have been killed in an air crash in southern Alaska state, northwestern United States, authorities said Saturday, Trend reports citing Xinhua.
The Alaska Department of Public Safety said in a statement that a twin-engine Piper PA-31-350 aircraft went down Friday evening near Jean Lake, west of Cooper Landing in Kenai Peninsula, about 160 km south of Anchorage, the largest city in Alaska.
"There were believed to be three souls on board; no survivors are expected," said the statement.
Local newspaper The Anchorage Daily News (ADN) quoted a spokesman of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as saying that the plane was carrying two Medevac Alaska crew members and the pilot.
The plane, which belonged to Security Aviation, an Anchorage-based air charter company, left Anchorage on Friday evening to pick up a patient from a medical center in Seward city in southern Alaska, the ADN said.
There was no patient on the ill-fated aircraft at the time of the crash, it added.
Alaska State Troopers said the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center has located the crash site, and that rescue teams were trying to reach it but were unable to land due to challenging weather and terrain.
A search and rescue operation is already underway, and rescuers are expected to reach the crash site on Sunday, the troopers said.