A Kenmore Air flight went down in the water near Sucia Island on Thursday, and rescue crews were still working the scene as night approached. The aircraft had left Lake Union about 4:30 p.m. bound for Roche Harbor on San Juan Island.
Kenmore Air said 10 people were aboard. Orcas Island Fire & Rescue initially said as many as 11 patients could be involved, a difference that reflected the early, shifting count common in fast-moving emergencies. The figures were preliminary, and the U.S. Coast Guard was on scene conducting rescue operations.
What was not yet clear mattered just as much as what was. Officials had not released the type of aircraft, the condition of those involved, or what may have caused the crash, leaving the basic outline of the incident intact but the hardest questions unanswered.
That uncertainty made the response in the San Juan Islands the key fact of the day: crews were still trying to account for everyone while the number on board remained unsettled. For the people connected to the flight, the next update will come not from a route map or a passenger count, but from whether officials can say who was pulled from the water and what shape they were in.
