Two people critically injured and 10 others receiving medical care, Peninsula Airways said

This article is more than 11 months old

This article is more than 11 months old

One person is dead after a commuter plane carrying 42 people, including a high school swimming team, went off the runway while landing late on Thursday at a small Alaska community on the Bering Sea.

Peninsula Airways initially said in a statement that two passengers were critically injured and 10 others were receiving medical care.

On Friday afternoon Alaska state troopers identified the person killed as David Allan Oltman, 38, of Washington state.

The swim team reportedly escaped harm in the incident, which occurred about 5.40pm at the airport in Unalaska in the Aleutian Islands. Unalaska is home to Dutch Harbor, one of the nation’s busiest fishing ports.

A Saab-Scania 2000 operated by Peninsula Airways, or PenAir, went off the end of the runway under unknown circumstances, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman, Allen Kenitzer, said in an email to the Associated Press.

He said local authorities reported three crew members on board in addition to 38 passengers, but the airline said 39 passengers were onboard.

PenAir, which is owned by Ravn Air Group, said it was fully cooperating with the NTSB and has established a family assistance line.

“On behalf of PenAir, Ravn Air Group and all our employees throughout the company, we would like to extend our deepest sympathies and condolences to the family and loved ones of our passenger who passed away,” Dave Pflieger, the president of RavnAir Group, said in a statement.

Clint Johnson, the head of the Alaska region of the National Transportation Safety Board, said a team of nine NTSB investigators was expected in Anchorage late Friday.

An eyewitness said the flight from Anchorage to Dutch Harbor landed about 500ft (150 meters) beyond the airport, near the water. Social media posts show the plane’s nose hanging over a rock embankment, but not in the water.

Unalaska police, fire and ambulance crews were at the airport assisting the passengers, who appeared unharmed, an eyewitness, the freelance photographer Jim Paulin, told the Associated Press.

Some passengers were transported from the airport in an ambulance, but others left with the assistance of residents, including families who planned to host the visiting swimmers.

The plane appeared to have been forced beyond its planned landing area by high winds the community has been experiencing recently, Paulin said.

The plane was carrying members of a high school swimming team from Cordova, the city manager Erin Reinders said. She said she is also the local swim coach and was at the airport waiting to greet the team from Cordova.

A statement posted on the Cordova school district’s website said the flight carrying swimmers and their chaperones experienced difficulty stopping on the airport runway.

“At present, all students and chaperones are accounted for and are OK, albeit a bit shaken up,” said the statement by Cordova’s superintendent, Alex Russin.

Unalaska is about 825 miles (1,330km) west of Anchorage.

