Mid-Air Alaska Float Plane Crash Victims Identified

KETCHIKAN, AK — Six cruise passengers are confirmed dead after two float-planes collided mid-air under unknown circumstances near Ketchikan, Alaska, officials said. The bodies of two passengers who remained missing following the Monday crash were recovered on Tuesday night, the United States Coast Guard said.

According to the Federal Aviation Adminsitration, the collision happened in Coon Cove, Alaska around 1:10 p.m. local time on Monday.

Princess Cruises, the company operating the ship the passengers were sailing on, said in a statement that one of the aircrafts was carrying ten guests from Royal Princess and a pilot. The flight, which was on a shore excursion sold through the cruise line, was returning from a tour of Misty Fjords.

The second plane was operating an independent flight tour carrying four other Royal Princess guests and a pilot. According to the statement from Princess Cruises, nine of the ten American guests and the pilot on the first plane, which was operated by Taquan Air, were rescued and are receiving medical attention. One of the passengers on that flight was recovered overnight on Monday, the company said.

Princess Cruises said two guests and a pilot, all of whom were American, were the first three fatalities confirmed on the second flight. The bodies of two other guests on the flight, an Australian and a Canadian national, were recovered on Tuesday.

The Alaska Department of Public Safety identified the victims as:

Randy Sullivan, 46, of Ketchikan, Alaska (pilot)

Simon Bodie, 56, of Tempe, New South Wales, Australia

Cassandra Webb, 62, of Saint Louis

Ryan Wilk, 39, of Utah

Louis Botha, 46, of San Diego

Elsa Wilk, 37, of Richmond, British Columbia, Canada

"All of us at Princess Cruises are deeply saddened by this tragic news and we are extending our full support to the investigating authorities as well as the traveling companions of the guests involved," Brian O’Connor, a spokesman for Princess Cruises, said in a statement. "We immediately activated our Princess Care Team employees in the region and sent additional team members to Ketchikan overnight to assist the families impacted."

The National Transportation Safety Board is launching a team to investigate the crash that occurred about 10 miles northeast of Ketchikan

The ship, Royal Princess, was on a seven-day voyage that began in Vancouver on May 11.

This report will be updated. The Associated Press contributed to this report.