Washington Floatplane Crash: Coast Guard Releases Passenger Names

WHIDBEY ISLAND, WA — The U.S. Coast Guard has released the names of 10 people who were on board a floatplane that crashed just west of Whidbey Island on Sunday.

The plane was en route from Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands to Renton Municipal Airport when it crashed in Mutiny Bay, about 30 miles northwest of downtown Seattle.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the De Havilland DHC-3 was carrying nine adults and a child, and watchstanders fielded the first crash report at 3:11 p.m.

• RELATED: Floatplane Crashes Into Mutiny Bay: 1 Dead, 9 Missing

The pilot was Jason Winters, according to the Coast Guard. The nine passengers were Patricia Hicks, Sandra Williams, Lauren Hilty, Remy Mickel, Ross Mickel, Luke Ludwig, Rebecca Ludwig, Joanne Mera and Gabrielle Hanna. Remy Mickel was the child on board, according to the Coast Guard.

Williams is a well-known civil rights activist from Spokane who also founded a community center and Black newspaper in Spokane, the Seattle Times reported.

One person died in the crash; however, the Coast Guard has not yet released the person's name until their family can be notified.

The Coast Guard suspended its search for the missing passengers Monday after "saturating an area" of more than 2,100 square nautical miles (nearly 2,800 square miles.)

"The Coast Guard offers its deepest sympathies to those who lost a loved one in this tragedy," Xochitl Castañeda, search and rescue mission coordinator with the Coast Guard, said in a news release.

Floatplanes, which have pontoons allowing them to land on water, are a common sight around Puget Sound, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean. There are multiple, daily flights between the Seattle area and the San Juan Islands.

These aircraft, which also fly between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, frequently travel over Seattle and land on Lake Washington and on Lake Union, not far from the city's iconic Space Needle.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are still investigating the cause of the crash.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.