[kellyhound]

A massive rescue effort ended in a miracle Thursday evening after a Kenmore Air seaplane carrying 11 people made an emergency landing and burst into flames in the San Juan Islands.

Authorities have confirmed that all 10 passengers and one pilot survived the crash, defying early fears after dramatic video footage showed the aircraft fully engulfed in fire on the water.

The aircraft, a single-engine turboprop de Havilland Canada DHC-3T Turbine Otter operating as Kenmore Air Flight 140, departed the Lake Union Seaplane Base in downtown Seattle at approximately 4:30 p.m. PDT. It was on a scheduled commercial flight northwest to Roche Harbor Seaplane Base on San Juan Island.

At around 5:15 p.m., the pilot was forced to execute an emergency landing in Shallow Bay, located on the western side of Sucia Island (just north of Orcas Island).

Eyewitness video captured by bystanders on nearby pleasure boats showed the plane repeatedly bouncing hard off the water’s surface before coming to a stop. Moments later, the aircraft caught fire and was quickly destroyed by flames.

Local boaters reported that a severe thunderstorm with intense lightning, heavy rain, and southerly wind gusts up to 20 mph rolled through the islands at the exact time of the accident.

According to San Juan County Sheriff Eric Peter, nearby civilians and "Good Samaritans" in private boats rushed to the burning aircraft within minutes, pulling survivors directly from the water.

One passenger remains hospitalized in critical condition.Four passengers were taken to PeaceHealth Peace Island Medical Center in Friday Harbor with injuries ranging from lacerations and broken bones to head trauma.

Six passengers were transported to PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham for evaluation.The pilot was transferred to Skagit Valley Hospital for treatment.

Both the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) have officially launched investigations to determine what mechanical or environmental factors forced the emergency landing.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Coast Guard remains on-scene in Shallow Bay to monitor the burned wreckage resting on the shoreline rocks and mitigate any potential aviation fuel environmental impacts.

[DarkSighted]

From the looks of things, that went as well as it possibly could. I live in this area (not far from their 'seaport' at the north tip of lake washington (where bootleggers used to operate, long ago), and it appears to be a generally safe service, but I'd never take one of these little hoppers anywhere.