WHIDBEY ISLAND, Wash. - One person has died, and nine others are missing after a float plane crashed west of Whidbey Island on Sunday afternoon.The plane went down shortly after 3 p.m.
near Mutiny Bay.Initial calls to 9-1-1 indicated that the plane crash-landed nose first into the water. People living on the island miles away reported hearing the boom – many confused by what it was that they were hearing.After close to a 20-hour search, the U.S.
Coast Guard suspended the search for the remaining nine people who were aboard the plane. Officials say they covered 1,283 nautical miles and were unable to find anyone else.The families' next of kin has been notified."It sounded like dynamite went off," said Rick Rasmussen – who was on the beach with his wife when the plane went down.Rasmussen didn’t see the plane itself, but an estimated splash 20-30 feet in the air caught his attention more than a mile away from the beach.
At first, he wasn’t sure whether a boat had exploded or something else."We didn’t’ see anyone pull anyone in, picking up any wreckage or anything," he said. "We couldn’t see anything.