Australian man among cruise passengers who died after mid-air plane collision

Yokohama, Japan - August 15, 2018: It is a ?sanbashi Pier of Yokohama Port. A big luxury liner is anchored.The name of the ship is ’Diamond Princess’. She sails under British colours. There are lots of lifeboats lining up.

An Australian man has been confirmed as one of the five people killed after two sightseeing airplanes carrying cruise ship tourists collided in mid-air over southeast Alaska.

The pilot of a de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver and all four passengers died in the collision with a de Havilland Otter DHC-3 just after 1pm on Monday (local time) near the town of Ketchikan.

Both floatplanes were carrying cruise passengers from the Royal Princess cruise ship, who were on aerial tours of the Misty Fjords National Monument.

You can read our initial story on this incident here.

The US Coast Guard has since confirmed that one of four cruise passengers who died was an Australian man, while two others are still missing.

Ten other people, who are reported to all be from the US, were rescued and are receiving medical treatment, according to multiple media reports.

America’s National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) told media at a press conference that it was in the process of arranging interviews with those who survived the crash, and that it would be investigating the pilots, the aircraft and the companies who operated the floatplanes.

Dive teams are still searching for the two missing people. One is believed to be a Canadian tourist.

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