fairchild c 123

Fairchild C-123 Aircraft Crashes in Alaska, Sparks Fire

A Fairchild C-123 cargo aircraft crashed in a national park in Alaska, killing 3, according to reports on Monday.

The big multi-engine plane crashed near the Denali National Park headquarters on Sunday, killing all 3 people on board the craft, reported local television station KTVA-CBS 11.

The aircraft smashed into the side of Mount Healy. Several 100 tourists reportedly saw the incident. Authorities said that the plane erupted into a large fireball and sparked a wildfire, which was reported to still be burning as of Sunday evening.

It looked like he was flying kind of low, and he banked hard to the left and went straight down,” witness Brent Stache from Milwaukee, WI, told the TV station. “We saw the fireball come up from the back side of the mountains.”

1st responders said that the airplane was completely destroyed and it was impossible to get into the wreckage as it was engulfed in flames. The wildfire has prevented authorities from conducting a more thorough investigation into the cause of the crash.

Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are expected to arrive on Monday and conduct an investigation into the cause of the crash.

The names of those on board have not been released yet but are all employees at All West Freight, Inc. of Delta Junction, reported KTVA.

As for the fire, several Alaska Fire smokejumpers were deployed to aid in containing the blaze.

Denali National Park is approximately one hundred eighty miles north of Anchorage.