2 die, 4 survive Alaska plane crash

MCGRATH, Alaska, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- Four of the six people aboard a single-engine airplane survived when the aircraft crashed in Alaska, authorities said Sunday.

State police spokeswoman Beth Ipsen said the Inland Aviation Service Cessna 207 was on a flight from McGrath to Anvik when it went down 37 miles west of McGrath Saturday night, WTUU-TV, Anchorage, reported.

The four survivors were rescued by the Alaska Air National Guard and flown by helicopter to McGrath for treatment, the TV station said.

The Anchorage Daily News reported the weather was bad and visibility poor at the time of the crash.

The newspaper said those on board included the pilot and all three teachers from the Anvik school in the Iditarod School District. Iditarod School District Superintendent Karen Ladegard told the newspaper two of the teachers are a husband and wife whose 8- and 10-year-old children also were on the flight.

State troopers had not released the victims' names or indicated which ones had died.