SEATTLE, Wash. (CNN) – A cruise ship has returned to Seattle after an excursion plane crashed in Alaska, killing all nine people onboard.
Eight of the victims were passengers from the M.S. Westerdam. The other passengers on board the ship say the return was bittersweet.
The came in about 5 a.m. Saturday. But those we met who were on board said their journey back from Alaska was bittersweet.
“It was a beautiful cruise until.. fantastic at Glacier Bay. It just cast a pall on the whole cruise unfortunately,” said passenger Nancy Gerner.
Gerner and her husband, Jim, from Seattle, were among the thousands who returned but were deeply touched by the crash of a float plane that claimed the lives of eight passengers.
“There was a lovely memorial service on board. I think the place was just packed,” Gerner said.
The doomed passengers were on board a float plane operated by Promech Air Thursday. They were on an excursion to the Misty Fjords when the plane went down in the rocky terrain near Ella Lake, northeast of Ketchikan.
The 64 year old pilot from Hope, Idaho, died, too.
“We were actually on a float plane ride that morning, before it happened. We missed it by about an hour.,” said passenger Jack Hargiss.
Hargiss from Denver is a private pilot himself. He blamed the weather and the Promech pilot.
“He hit eight hundred above the water and there were some very tall, ah, walls, they call them. They’re shelf’s where and I’m sure he, he went into a cloud bank and just hammered the wall,” Hargiss said.
The fatal crash delayed their departure by about six hours, he said, and they skipped the port of call in Victoria, British Columbia.
“I think a small sacrifice for the rest of us,” Hargiss said.
Despite the accident, most of the people said it did not ruin their trip to Alaska. After all, they missed just one port of call, but it had them counting their blessings.
