No survivors have been found after a plane crashed in Fairbanks, Alaska, officials say.
No survivors have been found after a plane crashed into the Tanana River on Tuesday morning. Troopers reported the plane, a Douglas DC-4, crashed southwest of Fairbanks near Kallenberg Road.
They said two people were on board when the plane took off at 9.55am, but no survivors were found.
“The plane crashed on a steep hill on the river bank where it caught fire,” the military said.
Police asked people to avoid the area. Clint Johnson, chief of the National Transportation Safety Board’s Alaska Regional Office, said three NTSB investigators were en route to the area. The plane was flying to transport fuel, the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) confirmed. This government agency has opened an investigation.
Witness to the tragedy
“One of the engines caught fire. It was a four-engine plane, one of the engines caught fire – and it crashed,” said Emers, a local.
Emers, his son and some of their neighbors rushed to the scene from the Tanana River, arriving about ten minutes after the accident. Emers said he heard two more large explosions from the crash site before troopers arrived and saw debris from the plane’s interior and fuselage strewn around.
Before even arriving at the crash site, Emers’ concerns were with the people on board the flight, according to Alaskas News Source.
“It was incredibly scary. And I knew there were people on that plane wondering what was going through their heads. And it must have been awful,” he said.
Mike Emers, a farmer who lives close to the crash site, described how he saw the terrifying scene unfold.
“I was working in the office, I heard an explosion, looking out the window I saw a plane on fire. He traveled across the field of my farm. And then there was another explosion, which I assumed was a crash,” Emers said. “Then there was another very loud explosion that shook the houses around here.”
Emers said he saw flames coming from an engine on the low-flying aircraft just before it crashed.
Read also: Two young Ukrainians, saved by Salvamont Maramureș teams
 No survivors found after plane crash in Alaska){kind=link}