At least eight people, including three children, died when two planes collided over a picturesque mountain lake in northern Idaho, the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office said Monday.
One of the planes was a floating aircraft operated by Brooks Seaplane of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, which operates charter flights for tourists over Lake Coeur d ‘Alene, the sheriff’s office said.
That plane was carrying five passengers, including three children, and a pilot, the sheriff’s office said.
The second plane was a Cessna 206 carrying at least two people, the sheriff’s office said.
A sheriff’s dive team found the remains in about 125 feet of water, and the bodies of three victims have been recovered so far, the sheriff’s office said.
Boaters reacting to the crash near Powderhorn Bay on Lake Coeur d’Alene on Sunday, south of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
(Stephanie Hammett / The Spokesman-Review via AP)
“We don’t anticipate survivors,” said Sheriff’s Lt. Ryan Higgins. “We believe they are all deceased.”
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board are on the scene and will carry out an investigation into what happened, the sheriff’s office said.
The planes collided mid-air near Powderhorn Bay around 2:30 p.m. Sunday and launched into the water, Higgins said.
The large and popular lake, which is surrounded by vacation homes, was busy with boaters the weekend of July 4. Numerous personal boats went to the scene immediately in search of survivors. Marine sheriff’s teams, fire departments, and the U.S. Coast Guard also responded.
The first two bodies were recovered from the surface by recreational boaters and turned over to the Coast Guard, Higgins said.
The three recovered bodies had not been identified, Higgins said.
The sheriff’s office identified the pilot of the floating plane as Neil Lunt, 58, of Liberty Lake, Washington. A passenger was identified as Sean K. Fredrickson, a Lake Oswego, Oregon golf instructor. His children and stepson, a 16-year-old girl, an 11-year-old boy and a 16-year-old boy, were also killed. Their names were not revealed. Another man on the plane has not been identified.
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The second plane was registered in Lewiston, Idaho, but had departed from Felts Field in nearby Spokane, Washington, Higgins said.
Two people on that plane have been identified, but their names were not released pending notification of family members, the sheriff’s office said.
Witnesses told the media that they saw the two planes flying towards each other and colliding in midair, and then plunged a few hundred feet into the lake.
“You could see debris falling with it and you could tell it was obviously a plane in the sky,” witness Angie Bishop told KREM-TV.
The floating aircraft was a Havilland DHC2 that was built in 1956 and owned by Brooks Seaplane, according to a database by the Federal Aviation Administration. The plane was a fixture in the coastal town of Coeur d’Alene, where Brooks is located. A makeshift memorial for victims was established Monday at the Brooks site.
The other aircraft was a Cessna 206G registered with Echo Rental Co. of Lewiston, Idaho, according to the database. Authorities are fairly certain that only two people were aboard that plane, Higgins said.
“The planes sank pretty fast” after they crashed, he said.
The sheriff’s dive team is unable to operate to the depth of the lake bottom, so a small, remotely controlled robot submarine was dispatched Sunday night and recovered the third victim, Higgins said.
The bodies of two additional victims have been located at the bottom of the lake, but have not yet been recovered, Higgins said. The search continued for the other three victims, he said.
“Diving at that depth is very dangerous,” said Higgins.
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The airspace over the lake did not appear to be more crowded than usual on Sunday, he said.
“We have no idea what happened,” Higgins said, other than the planes crashed.
