NTSB: Wreckage of Togiak plane crash that killed 3 ‘highly fragmented’

Update 8:30 a.m. Monday:

National Transportation Safety Board investigators hoped Monday to reach the site of a plane crash near Togiak that killed three people Sunday afternoon.

Clint Johnson, the NTSB's Alaska chief, said two investigators – Shaun Williams and Noreen Price — reached Dillingham Sunday evening and consulted with Alaska State Troopers. They planned to fly to Togiak via helicopter Monday morning, using the village as a base of operations from which to visit the crashed Cessna 208B.

Troopers were able to initially reach the scene Sunday in steep terrain, Johnson said, by landing nearby then hiking to the site.

"They made it in via helicopter — they were contending with less-than-stellar weather conditions," Johnson said. "All we know at this point is that the wreckage is highly fragmented."

Investigators based in Washington, D.C., are collecting radar and radio data from the fatal flight, including Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast or ADS-B tracking information being transmitted by the aircraft.

Check back for updates on this developing story.

Original story:

All three people aboard a Ravn Connect flight died Sunday afternoon when the aircraft they were traveling in crashed northwest of Togiak, Alaska State Troopers reported.

The Hageland Aviation Cessna 208B, operating as Ravn Connect, was carrying a pilot, a co-pilot and one passenger from Quinhagak to Togiak. Ground controllers from Hageland lost contact with the flight between 1 and 1:30 p.m., said NTSB Alaska Chief Clint Johnson.

An emergency locator transmitter was activated aboard the Cessna just before 1:30 p.m., troopers said.

Troopers reached the crash site — which Johnson said was located in "steep terrain" about 12 miles northwest of the village of Togiak in Southwest Alaska — later Sunday.

"No survivors were located," troopers said in an online dispatch.

Federal investigators with the NTSB will travel to the scene early Monday morning, Johnson said.

A statement from Ravn Alaska Sunday evening confirmed that there were two pilots and a passenger aboard the plane. The victims of the crash were not immediately identified Sunday pending notification of their families.

Just over a month ago, another Hageland flight carrying three people collided in midair near Russian Mission with a plane operated by Renfro's Alaskan Adventures. Five people were killed in that crash, which is still being investigated.