Two Dead in Alaskan Plane Crash

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- Two men were killed when their small plane crashed in Southwest Alaska during a caribou hunting trip, Alaska State Troopers said Sunday.

The crash occurred Saturday about 13 miles northeast of the village of Koliganek west of Iliamna, a popular fishing and hunting area. There were no known witnesses.

The pilot is believed to be a 31-year-old resident of Big Fork, Mont., and the passenger a 37-year-old resident of Sykesville, Md., but authorities said they were waiting for the bodies to be positively identified by the state medical examiner before releasing their names. They two were the only people on board the plane when it went down.

A pilot flying over the wreckage reported the crash Saturday afternoon, said trooper Jeff Laughlin in Dillingham.

A flight plan had not been filed, which slowed efforts to identify the occupants of the single-engine Piper PA-12. Laughlin said he called the flight service station in Iliamna and asked if any Piper PA-12s had left the area that day.

``They said one plane left shortly after 10 that morning, so I asked them to pass the word,'' said Laughlin, who eventually heard from the pilot's father, also visiting Alaska from Montana.

``The father said his boy and his friend were out in the aircraft,'' Laughlin said. ``The family is extremely devastated.''

The National Transportation Board was en route to the crash site Saturday to begin its investigation, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.