A sightseeing plane crashed on Thursday in southeast Alaska, killing all the nine people aboard, but stormy weather was preventing the immediate recovery of the bodies.  "We have nine fatalities," said Clint Johnson, head of the National Transportation Safety Board’s Alaska office.


Rain and wind forced an end to recovery efforts Thursday night in the rugged terrain about 20 miles northeast of Ketchikan. Officials would mount a recovery attempt again on Friday, he said. There was no immediate indication of why the DeHavilland DHC-3 Otter turboprop crashed. It was found Thursday against the granite rock face of a cliff, 800 feet above Ella Lake.

Johnson said it was too soon to know circumstances of the crash, including whether the plane flew into the cliff.