SPOKANE, Wash. — The National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) will not speculate on what caused the seaplane to crash off the shore of Whidbey Island. However, witnesses who saw the plane knew something was wrong.
"It didn't look like anything but a plane nosediving into the water," Matthew Peterson, a witness to the crash, said.
He jumped into a boat with his father in-law and tried to help.
"We got out there and there was nothing left and then we came across the body we found," Peterson said.
That body was a woman who has yet to be identified.
"There were nine passengers on board, including one child and the pilot for a total of 10," NTSB member Tom Chapman said. "All are presumed deceased."
The NTSB believes the plane is now 100 feet below the water in the Puget Sound. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is bringing in sonar equipment to help investigators locate the wreckage. Nine people on board the fatal flight remain missing.
"Our mission is to understand not just what happened, but why it happened and to recommend changes to prevent it from happening again," Chapman said.
People are remembering the 10 people on board, including two women from Spokane. Retired school teacher Patricia Hicks and Spokane Civil Rights Activist Sandy Williams, who was celebrating her 61st birthday at the time, were lost in the crash.
The NTSB says the investigation into this crash could take at least two years. They are working to recover every piece of aircraft so they can determine what went wrong.
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