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Four people were injured when a plane crashed during landing near Fire Lake in Eagle River on Saturday evening, according to the National Transportation Security Board.
The Cessna 185 wheel-ski equipped plane crashed shortly after 8 p.m., said NTSB spokesman Clint Johnson. The four people on board had a range of injuries, from minor to serious, he said. They were all brought to the hospital, but investigators had not yet talked with them by Sunday afternoon.
The plane crashed into electrical wires at some point, Johnson said. Power was out for several hours in roughly 85 nearby homes, according to the Matanuska Electric Association.
***EAGLE RIVER OUTAGE*** Update, 12:15am: power has been restored to all members. Update, 10:45pm: crews are standing...
Posted by Matanuska Electric Association on Saturday, April 11, 2020
The mangled plane came to rest in the lawn of a home on the west side of the lake near the Glenn Highway.
NTSB investigators are not on scene due to COVID-19 concerns, Johnson said. The wreckage from the plane will instead be moved to a safe storage location and investigators will examine it at a later date. Johnson said investigators are working from home currently because of the pandemic.
“It’s tough,” he said. “It’s really, really hard not to be able to show up at the scene.”
Johnson said investigators were relying on help from the Anchorage Police Department and Anchorage Fire Department at the scene. Crews were working to clear the wreckage Sunday afternoon.