Minnesota couple among those presumed dead in Puget Sound float plane crash
MINNEAPOLIS -- A married couple from the Twin Cities have been confirmed as two of the 10 people aboard a float plane that crashed on the west coast Sunday and are among the nine victims still missing and presumed dead.
A family member confirmed that Luke Ludwig, 42, and his wife, Rebecca Ludwig, 42, were killed in the Puget Sound crash on Sunday northwest of Seattle, Washington.
The married couple with kids lived in Excelsior; their kids are safe and with other family.
"We have nothing to share at this time other than we are coping with this tragedy with overwhelming support from family, friends and a loving community," the family said in a statement. "We ask that the media respect our family's privacy and allow us to deal with our losses without future media attention or prominence."
RELATED: Coast Guard suspends search for 9 missing in floatplane crash in Washington's Puget Sound
The plane went down in Mutiny Bay off of Whidbey Island, roughly 30 miles northwest of downtown Seattle and about halfway between Friday Harbor and Renton. The plane had 10 people, including a child, on board at the time of the crash.
One person was found dead, while the remaining nine are missing. On Monday, the coast guard suspended the search for those nine remaining passengers.
The agency said in a press release the plane was flying from Friday Harbor, a popular tourist destination in the San Juan Islands, to Renton, a southern suburb of Seattle.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said the plane was a de Havilland DHC-3 Otter, a single-engine propeller plane. The seaplane company's owner said that two planes took off Sunday afternoon. The owner told authorities he saw the other plane divert slightly off course and tried to make radio contact but was not able to.
The Coast Guard learned that the aircraft dropped suddenly and hit the water, but there are no photos or videos from the moment. It's not clear what exactly happened to the plane on impact, officials said.
The NTSB will be investigating the cause of the crash.
