Ryan Burnias(UNALASKA, Alaska) — A twin-engine Alaska Airlines flight from Anchorage to Unalaska Island overshot the runway and stopped just short of plunging into the waters of the bay Thursday evening.
Two aboard were critically hurt and 10 others were treated for injuries, according to reports — but members of a high school swim team aboard the flight were said to be OK following the harrowing incident.
Alaska Airlines Flight 3296, operated by Peninsula Airways, ran off the runway while landing at Alaska’s Unalaska/Dutch Harbor Airport, airline officials said in a statement.
The plane, a Saab 2000 turboprop, had three crew members and 39 passengers aboard, including members of the swim team at Alaska’s Cordova High School.
“At present, all students and chaperones are accounted for and are OK, albeit a bit shaken up,” read a statement posted by superintendent Alex Russin on the school district’s website Thursday night.
The statement said that “the team was together, seemed fine, and were eating pizza.”
Interim Police Chief John Lucking said there were no casualties, according to Unalaska TV station KUCB.
Photos taken afterward showed the plane resting at about at 30-degree angle on a rocky embankment, with its nose just feet from the water.
Unalaska Island is part of the Aleutian Island chain to the west of the Alaskan mainland.
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