Anchorage Daily News

A small plane crashed this afternoon into a house on the edge of downtown Sitka, setting the house afire in a wreck whose flames could be seen by many in town as well as many of the nearly 3,000 tourists there, according to authorities.

It is not known yet if there are any fatalities.

A woman who lives in the house, on Kogwanton/Back Street in a part of town known as the Old Native Village, was not inside at the time, said April Jensen, the city’s deputy municipal clerk. It was unclear, however, if anyone else might have been in the house, Jensen said.

The plane apparently was having engine trouble just before it crashed at roughly 1:15 p.m., she said.

“I was just coming back from lunch and heard it go overhead,” Jensen said. She described it as making a high-pitched sound like a remote-controlled model airplane.

“It was definitely having engine problems,” she said.

“I thought it was those Coast Guard helicopters. It was so strange, and then just this big crash, like metal on metal. I thought it was a car crash. Then I heard this lady scream, ‘Oh my God, there’s been a plane crash.’ Everybody started running toward the street, and the flames were shooting up.”

A woman answering the phone at the Sitka Fire Department said, “We’re trying to put out a fire and see if there are any survivors.” She would not give any additional information, nor would the Sitka Police Department.

Preliminary information indicates the plane is a single-engine Piper 46, according to the Federal Aviation Administration in Anchorage.

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