A small plane crashed on Sunday along the coast of the US state of Washington, killing one person while searching for nine more, according to the coast guard.
According to the Coast Guard, it received word of the crash at 3:11 pm (2211 GMT) and immediately sent out boats and helicopters to search the area. Officials from the local search and rescue agency were also there.
“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.
Flight tracking website Flight Radar 24 said it was monitoring reports of the accident, and that it had logged the last signal from a 55-year-old de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter — a single-engine propeller plane — in the region at 3:08 pm local time at 100 feet (30.5 metres) of height.
Eight adults and one child were on board, according to a tweet from the Coast Guard's Pacific Northwest region. They were looking for 10 passengers, according to a later tweet.