The body of a 10th person was recovered Sunday after the crash was reported at 3:11 p.m. PT, Coast Guard spokesman William Colclough said Monday. Later Monday, the Coast Guard announced it had suspended the search after “saturating an area” of about 7,250 square kilometers. “All next of kin have been notified of this decision,” the Coast Guard said on Twitter. “Our hearts go out to the families, loved ones and friends of those who are still missing and those who have died.” The Northwest Seaplanes flight departed Friday Harbor, Wash. – a popular tourist destination in the San Juan Islands east of Victoria – and was headed to Renton Municipal Airport, the company’s base, Colclough said. The plane went down in Mutiny Bay off Whidbey Island, about 50 kilometers north of downtown Seattle and about halfway between Friday Harbor and Renton, a suburb south of Seattle. The National Transportation Safety Board said Monday it has sent a seven-person team to investigate the DHC-3 Turbine Otter crash. The cause of the crash is unknown, authorities said. Jon Gabelein of South Whidbey Fire/EMS told Seattle radio station KOMO that witnesses on shore reported seeing the plane “nose down.” Four Coast Guard vessels, a rescue helicopter and an aircraft were involved in the extensive search, along with nearby rescue and law enforcement agencies. The Coast Guard said early Monday that crews were searching throughout the night, “but no additional people were found and no debris was located.” A pair of U.S. Coast Guard vessels search the area near Freeland, Wash., on Whidbey Island north of Seattle on Monday. (Stephen Brashear/The Associated Press) Northwest Seaplanes is a family-owned business founded by Clyde Carlson, according to the company’s website, which claims the company has 24 years of “accident and incident-free flights.” The company’s business office next to the seaplane dock at the Renton Municipal Airport remained closed behind a fence Monday. The only visible activity was two people hugging near the front door. The only floatplane on the dock appeared to be a small private Cessna. A woman who answered the phone early Monday said they are waiting to learn more and are devastated by the crash. “It’s a small crew. Everyone’s close,” said the woman, who would only give her first name, Michelle. He declined to say more. The website Northwest Seaplanes said its sister company Friday Harbor Seaplanes operates daily flights to and from its base in Renton and the San Juan Islands, a picturesque archipelago near the British Columbia border that draws tourists from around the world. Floatplanes, which have floats that allow them to land on water, are a common sight around Puget Sound, part of the Salish Sea that stretches north into B.C. There are several daily flights between the Seattle area and the San Juan Islands, as well as to Vancouver. In 2019, a plane crash in Alaska between two sightseeing planes killed six people. The Ketchikan-based floatplanes were carrying passengers from the same cruise ship, the Royal Princess, returning from tours of the Misty Fjords National Monument.
