Photos: Float plane crash on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula kills former state lawmaker

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The Tuesday night crash near Homer on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula killed 65-year-old former Anchorage Rep. Cheryll Heinze.

Former Alaska legislator Cheryll Heinze died Tuesday night when a float-equipped Cessna 206 that she and four other people were traveling in from Anchorage flipped upon landing in Beluga Lake about 10:30 p.m.

The Homer Fire Department dispatched a boat to the scene, where the plane was underwater. Four of the five passengers were able to safely evacuate with what National Transportation Safety Board investigator Clint Johnson described as minor injuries.

The 65-year-old Heinze, however, was trapped in the submerged aircraft before being extricated by rescue personnel, the Alaska State Troopers said. She didn't survive.

"From what it sounded like, the plane was under water, and she was trapped inside," troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters said. "They initiated CPR, and from what I'm told, they were able to get a pulse."

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