11 rescued after fiery seaplane crash between Vancouver Island, Washington<\/p>\n
Published 9:06 am Friday, July 24, 2026<\/p>\n
All 10 passengers and a pilot are recovering after a Kenmore Air seaplane crashed roughly 55 kilometres north-northeast of Victoria.<\/p>\n
The incident occurred Thursday evening (July 23) around 5:15 p.m., in Shallow Bay near Sucia Island, Wash.<\/p>\n
The flight had departed from Seattle and was bound for San Juan Island\u2019s Roche Harbor.<\/p>\n
Emergency responders, including the United States Coast Guard, U.S. Navy, plus Canadian and U.S. emergency personnel, responded immediately to the scene.<\/p>\n
According to the United States Coast Guard, the aircraft caught fire after an emergency landing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe aircraft caught fire following the emergency landing and is currently against the rocks on Sucia Island,\u201d said a Coast Guard news release.<\/p>\n
\u201cCoast Guard environmental response personnel have been notified and are coordinating with partner agencies to assess potential environmental impacts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several injured passengers were transported to hospitals in Friday Harbor, Skagit County and Bellingham for medical treatment, said the Coast Guard. The San Juan County Sheriff\u2019s Office said injuries range from head injuries to broken bones and lacerations, with one patient in critical condition.<\/p>\n
According to Kenmore Air, the pilot has since been released from hospital, while three passengers remain hospitalized.<\/p>\n
Kenmore Air said it is cooperating fully with U.S. government agency the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which is leading the investigation into the crash.<\/p>\n
\u201cBased on available weather radar information, there was a weather system in the area at the time, and the pilot adjusted the flight path in response to that weather,\u201d said Kenmore Air in an update Friday (July 24). \u201cAny determination about contributing factors will come from the NTSB investigation. \u201c<\/p>\n
All required maintenance inspections of the aircraft involved, a de Havilland Otter, were up-to-date, said an update from Kenmore Air.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe aircraft\u2019s maintenance records show its last 100-hour inspection was completed on June 25, 2026, and its last annual inspection was completed on January 26, 2026,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
Following news of the crash, Kenmore Air said its highest priority is the care and support of its passengers, pilot, and their families.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are grateful that everyone aboard has been accounted for, and our immediate focus is ensuring our passengers and pilot receive the care and support they need,\u201d said a July 23 statement from CEO David Gudgel.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe extend our sincere thanks to the United States Coast Guard, local emergency responders, and everyone assisting in the response. Kenmore Air is fully cooperating with the investigating authorities, and we will continue providing verified information as it becomes available.\u201d<\/p>\n
The airline, which also operates flights to and from Victoria\u2019s Inner Harbour, has cancelled all scheduled flights for Friday, July 24.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"11 rescued after fiery seaplane crash between Vancouver Island, Washington Published 9:06 am Friday, July 24, 2026 All…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":823528,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[903,49,48,87674,36245],"class_list":["post-825090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-surrey","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-surrey","tag-vancouver-island"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=825090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/823528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=825090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=825090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=825090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}