The two men who were in a Piper PA-18 SuperCub that crashed at Crescent Lake on Tuesday have been identified. Both are still considered missing.
41-year-old Paul Kondrat of Utah and 46-year-old Mark Sletten of Anchorage were on a plane that went down in Moose Pass just after 2:00 p.m. Tuesday afternoon.
Throughout the day, search teams from the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center and DPS HELO 3 have searched Crescent Lake for the two missing persons but have not been successful. Search teams are still in the field, using helicopters, divers, sonar, and boats.
“Right now, the focus is on getting crews up to the lake today. To continue the search for those two men who are currently missing. There’s crews that are going to be working their way up there today using military aircraft. So they’ll be up there working throughout the day,” said Alaska State Troopers Communications Director Austin McDaniel on Wednesday.
Two eyewitness hikers notified Alaska Wildlife Troopers that a plane had crashed at Crescent Lake near Moose Pass at 2:11 p.m.
A US Fish and Wildlife Service float plane and a DPS HELO 3 responded to the area and located debris in the lake. There were no signs of survivors in the water or on the shore.
After some investigation, Wildlife Troopers learned that a super cub with two adult males on board was reported overdue in the area.
The Alaska Rescue Coordination Center (RCC) dispatched an Alaska Air National Guard rescue team to the site; however, they could not locate either male.
The Alaska Wildlife Troopers, in coordination with local, state, military, volunteer, and federal partners, worked Tuesday to recover Kondrat and Sletten.
Additional updates will be provided as information becomes available.