On Saturday afternoon, authorities investigating Friday's plane crash in a rugged area between Juneau and Hoonah recovered the body of the pilot, the sole fatality in the crash, while two of the four survivors were flown to Seattle for treatment.
A National Transportation Safety Board investigator and members of the U.S. Coast Guard and Juneau Mountain Rescue flew to the crash site about 18 miles west of Juneau in a Coast Guard helicopter at 1 p.m. Saturday, said Clint Johnson, NTSB spokesman.
Johnson described the area of the crash site, north of Point Howard, as mountainous, tree-covered and otherwise "very challenging" terrain for rescuers.
"Unfortunately, the only way to get to this site is via helicopter and on the hoist," Johnson said.
The team recovered the remains of Fariah Peterson, the 45-year-old pilot, at about 2:30 p.m., according to an Alaska State Troopers dispatch. Peterson's body will be taken to the State Medical Examiner's Office for an autopsy, the dispatch said.
The cause of the crash, reported to Juneau dispatchers by one of the passengers at 1:26 p.m. Friday, remains under investigation.
On Friday, Peterson's family described her as brilliant, outgoing and determined to fly.
In a statement posted online, Wings of Alaska said it had canceled all of its flights Saturday "out of sensitivity to employees." Flights would resume Sunday, the statement said.
"We have lost a member of our work family, and our thoughts and prayers continue for everyone involved and touched by this tragedy," Rob McKinney, president and CEO of Wings of Alaska, said in the statement.
The four passengers on the Cessna 207 survived the crash and were rescued by helicopter from the crash area on Friday. Troopers identified them as Humberto Hernandez-Aponte, 57, and his wife, Sandra Herrera Lopez, 60, both of Juneau; Jose Vazquez, 15, of Puerto Rico; and Ernestine Hanlon-Abel, 64, of Hoonah.
Early Saturday morning, Lopez and Hanlon-Abel were flown from Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Both were listed in serious condition in the intensive care unit Saturday afternoon, a nursing supervisor at the hospital said.
A woman who answered the phone at Bartlett Regional Hospital Saturday said the hospital was not giving out information on the other survivors' conditions. She directed a reporter to a number for an NTSB office in Washington, D.C.
The statement from Wings of Alaska said counselors were in Juneau to offer information and support to the family and friends of those involved in the crash.
Johnson said he expected a plan would be determined Saturday night to retrieve the wreckage of the Cessna. He said NTSB recovery crews have arrived in Juneau.
Alaska Dispatch News reporter Tegan Hanlon contributed to this report.