Nine in Alaska crash were S. Carolinians

Nine passengers from South Carolina were killed when an air taxi crashed and burned at a small airport in Alaska on Sunday, authorities said Monday.

Two families from Greenville, S. C., were killed in the crash, said South Carolina Rep. Bruce Bannister, who lives near one of the families.

Bannister said Melet and Kim Antonakos and their children, Ana, Mills and Olivia were killed, along with a McManus family, all of whom are members of Christ Church Episcopal in Greenville.

Tracy Underwood of Atlanta, Antonakos’ brother- in- law, confirmed his family was told by authorities Monday that the family had been killed on the plane, but he said the family did not want to publicly discuss it.

“We just request family privacy at this time,” he said.

The pilot, who was from Alaska, also was killed, said Police Chief Peter Mlynarki in Soldotna, Alaska.

Early Monday, he said the families of the victims haven’t been notified and the state Medical Examiner hasn’t yet confirmed their identities, but based on documents, he believes the passengers were all from South Carolina.

It could take as long as Thursday for the identities to be confirmed.

The crash killed all 10 people on boardthe de Havilland DHC3 Otter. The air taxi went down at 11: 20 a. m. Sunday at the airport in Soldotna, about 75 miles southwest of Anchorage, Mlynarki said.

The Soldotna Police Department “is working diligently with South Carolina authorities to identify and locate the probable next of kin,” according to a statement released by the Alaska Department of Public Safety.

Mike Ellis, chief deputy coroner of Greenville County, S. C., said no one from Alaska has contacted his office.

The air taxi was operated by Re- diske Air, an Alaska- based company that provides short trips, sometimes landing in remote areas, Mlynarki said.

The airport where the crash occurred has no control tower and one asphalt and one gravel landing strip, he said.

The remains of the victims were sent to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Anchorage for autopsies and positive identifications, Mlynarki said.

RASHAH MCCHESNEY, PENINSULA CLARION, VIA AP Police and emergency personnel stand near a fixed- wing aircraft that crashed Sunday at an airport in Soldotna, Alaska.