A small plane crashed on Sunday along the coast of the U.S state of Washington, killing one person while nine persons are still missing, according to the coast guard.
According to the Coast Guard, it received word of the incident at 3:11 pm (2211 GMT) and immediately sent out boats and aircraft to search the area. Local search and rescue officials were also on the site.
“One deceased individual was recovered by crews on scene. Nine individuals remain unaccounted for, and a safety zone has been put into effect to help facilitate search efforts,” the coast guard said in a statement, adding that no cause for the crash had yet been determined.
On its way to Renton Municipal Airport, which is close to Seattle, the plane crashed while flying over the Puget Sound inlet of the Pacific Ocean.
The 55-year-old de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter, a single-engine propeller plane, sent its last signal at 100 feet (30.5 metres) of altitude at 3:08pm. local time, according to flight tracking website Flight Radar 24.
Eight adults and one child were on board, according to a tweet from the Coast Guard’s Pacific Northwest region. It later posted an update indicating they were hunting for 10 passengers.