ANCHORAGE: All 40 people aboard died as their airliner exploded in the air and smashed in flames on to a frozen lake. Rescue teams battled through icy winds of 40 to 45 knots, freezing temperatures and deep snow to reach the crash scene on the edge of Lake Spotsy. 100 miles from here several hours after the turbo-prop aircraft came down late yesterday [Dec 2].

But all they found were tangled bits of wreckage, fragments of passengers’ luggage and mutilated and burned bodies scattered over the lake and on the shore. No one was alive.

A bush pilot, flying over the crash scene, said the impact of the crash had broken the ice covering the lake in several places. Eskimo villagers living nearby said they saw the plane explode in the air. Then, the tail fell off and the aircraft dropped in a slow spiral, hitting the ice at a steep angle.

Other eye witnesses said the plane circled in the air trailing smoke before the explosion. There were three crew and 37 passengers aboard the flight from King Salmon to Anchorage. — Agency

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2018