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Cruise passenger killed in Alaska sightseeing plane crash
A 66-year-old cruise ship passenger was killed last week when a sightseeing plane crashed into the side of a mountain in Alaska.
He was one of six family members in the plane, part of a Duke University Alumni Travel tour.
Thomas Rising of Santa Fe, New Mexico, was a passenger on the cruise ship Sea Bird, on an Alaska cruise offered by Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic.
Duke Today, the online news site of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, reported that the flight was part of an optional tour offered by the Duke Alumni Travel program.
The other passengers, four Duke alumni and one current student, survived the crash of the single-engine Pacific Wings de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver floatplane.
Two were seriously hurt, one with a broken back and one with a broken leg.
A Coast Guard helicopter crew rescued the survivors and flew them to Petersburg, 13 miles from the crash site near Le Conte Glacier.
The two who were seriously injured were flown to a hospital in Seattle, according to a statement released by Lindblad Expeditions, a travel company that partners with National Geographic on the eight-day cruise.
"We are deeply saddened by this tragedy," a company statement said. "Our thoughts are with the people involved in this accident and their families."
The NTSB and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the crash.
Cheryl
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