A US Air Force colonel and another man were found dead after the small plane they were traveling in crashed into a remote Alaskan lake.
The bodies of Colonel Mark “Tyson” Sletten, 46, and Paul Kondrat, a 41-year-old man from Utah, were found inside the aircraft, according to Alaska News Source.
Sletten was an operations boss for the Alaskan Command, headquartered at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage.
“The news has been devastating for all of us here at Alaskan Command and the loss of Tyson is being felt throughout our community,” Lt General David Nahom, Commander, Alaskan NORAD Region, Alaskan Command and 11th Air Force, said in a statement. “Right now, our priority is taking care of his family and our teammates that were close to Tyson.”
The plane he was on is believed to have crashed on Tuesday into Crescent Lake, which is near Moose Pass on the Kenai Peninsula. Crescent Lake is approximately 105 miles south of Anchorage.
A pair of hikers witnessed the Piper PA-18 aircraft crash into the lake. They reported the scene to Alaska Wildlife Troopers,.
“There were some witnesses at Crescent Lake that apparently saw this accident,” Clint Johnson, the National Transportation and Safety Board’s Alaska chief, said, according to Alaska’s News Source.
He said the NTSB was in the “process of trying to talk with those witnesses to get a good account of what they saw” but noted the hikers were “still in the field.”
An Alaska Department of Public Safety search team in a helicopter and a US Fish and Wildlife Service float plane was immediately deployed to the area to search for the aircraft, but they reportedly only found debris from the crash.
On Thursday, volunteers with Alaska Dive, Search, Rescue and Recovery Team, searched the lake for signs of survivors. Searchers used sonar technology and remotely operated vehicles to assist the divers in their search.
Certain portions of the lake are up to 200 feet deep.
Late Thursday night, Alaska State Troopers announced that a Alaska Air National Guardsmen and Alaska DSRR volunteers found the plane 193 feet below the lake’s surface.
The plane was floated to the shore, after which Sletten and Kondrat were found inside. The mens’ bodies are being taking to the State Medical Examiner.
