At least one
person died and nine others remain missing after a floatplane crashed in Puget
Sound, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, in Washington State on Sunday, according
to the US Coast Guard. The plane was flying from Friday Harbour, a popular
tourist destination in the San Juan Islands, to Renton, a Seattle suburb, the
agency said. Here is all you need to know about the Puget Sound floatplane
crash.

What are
floatplanes?

A floatplane
is a type of seaplane that has one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage
to allow buoyancy. Floatplanes are often amphibian aircrafts that have landing
gear suitable for land. Floatplanes, which have pontoons, allow them to land on
water, and are a common sight around Puget Sound.

What
happened to the floatplane in question?

The
floatplane crashed at around 3:11 pm, according to the Coast Guard. Four Coast
Guard vehicles, a rescue helicopter and an aircraft were deployed to conduct an
extensive search of the area. One body was found while nine other people remain
missing. The cause of the crash is still unknown, authorities said. The plane
crashed in Mutiny Bay off Whidbey Island, located nearly 50 kilometres
northwest of downtown Seattle and about halfway between Friday Harbour and
Renton.

What sort
of a floatplane was this?

The
floatplane that crashed at Puget Sound was a de Havilland DHC-3 Otter, a
single-engine propeller plane, according to the US’ National Transport Safety
Board.

How
frequent are these floatplanes?

Floatplanes
fly regularly between Seattle and the San Juan islands; a scenic archipelago located
northwest of Seattle. There are multiple daily flights to this tourist
destination which attracts people from all over the world. Floatplanes also
travel between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, and frequently travel over
Seattle and land in Lake Washington not far from Space Needle.

Have such
accidents occurred before?

Two
sightseeing planes crashed mid-air in Alaska in 2019 killing six people. The
Ketchkian-based floatplanes were carrying passengers from the same cruise ship,
the Royal Princess, and were returning from tours of the Mistry Fjords National
Monument.