A Kenmore Air floatplane carrying 11 people went down and burst into flames off a remote Washington island Thursday evening, but a fast multi-agency rescue brought everyone out alive, one in critical condition.

Flight 140, a de Havilland DHC-3 Otter, left Lake Union in Seattle at roughly 4:30 p.m. bound for Roche Harbor on San Juan Island. Forty-five minutes later, at approximately 5:15 p.m., the aircraft crashed in Shallow Bay near Sucia Island, a state park in the San Juan Islands about 90 miles north of Seattle. The plane caught fire on impact, the New York Post reported.

Ten passengers and one pilot were aboard. All 11 were accounted for within hours, but the injuries were serious, head trauma, broken bones, and deep cuts among them. One passenger was transported in critical condition. Two were rushed by Coast Guard to a hospital in Bellingham. Two more went to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. The remaining seven were taken to a U.S. Coast Guard base for further evaluation.

Island first responders mobilized by boat within minutes

San Juan County Sheriff Eric Peter described the kind of scramble that defines emergency work in the remote island chain. Rescue crews from Orcas Island Fire & Rescue, San Juan Island Fire & Rescue, Lopez Island Fire & Rescue, San Juan County Parks, the Sheriff's Office, and the U.S. Coast Guard all converged on the scene by water.

Peter told KOMO News:

"It sounds dire at the moment when it's all evolving. These are rapidly evolving scenes. Preservation of life is our number one goal, and everybody was just rallying to get on the boat transports and get out there as quickly as we can."

He added that working in the San Juans demands a different mindset from mainland policing.

"That's what's a little bit different about doing cop work up here in the islands is we do have the boats, we are spread out, and we have to have that mentality every day. If something goes wrong in the air or on the ocean, we need to be able to get to our assets quickly and get out to the scenes to try to save as many people as we can."

Nearby civilians also assisted, though their specific roles were not detailed. Orcas Island Fire & Rescue confirmed all aboard had been rescued and were either receiving medical care or being transported.

The outcome could have been far worse. Aviation incidents over open water, far from trauma centers and ground ambulances, carry enormous risk. A recent helicopter crash in Georgia showed how quickly a remote-area accident can turn fatal when rescue is delayed.

Kenmore Air grounded all Friday flights and pledged cooperation with investigators

Kenmore Air CEO David Gudgel released a written statement Thursday evening acknowledging the crash and thanking the agencies that responded:

"This evening one of our aircraft was involved in an accident near Sucia Island. We are grateful that everyone aboard has been accounted for, and our immediate focus is ensuring our passengers and pilot receive the care and support they need. We extend our sincere thanks to the United States Coast Guard, local emergency responders, and everyone assisting in the response. Kenmore Air is fully cooperating with the investigating authorities, and we will continue providing verified information as it becomes available."

The airline canceled every scheduled flight on Friday, July 16, to focus on supporting passengers, the pilot, their families, and employees involved in the emergency response. Gudgel said the company would not speculate on the cause of the accident.

Both the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board, the federal agency that investigates civil aviation accidents, have opened investigations into the crash, AP News reported. The NTSB's involvement is standard for any commercial aviation incident, and its findings often take months to finalize. A separate NTSB investigation into a fatal Cessna breakup earlier this year illustrated how long the board's technical reviews can take before a probable cause is determined.

At least five passengers discharged by Friday, but one remains critical

By Friday, at least five of the 11 people aboard had already been discharged from hospitals, AP News reported. The speed of those releases suggests their injuries, while painful, were not life-threatening.

One passenger, however, remained in critical condition. Sheriff Peter confirmed that individual had been transported in critical condition Thursday evening. Neither the Sheriff's Office nor Kenmore Air released the names or ages of any of the passengers or the pilot.

The de Havilland DHC-3 Otter is a rugged, single-engine turboprop originally designed in the 1950s for short-takeoff bush flying. Kenmore Air, based at the north end of Lake Washington near Seattle, has operated seaplane service across the Puget Sound region for decades, ferrying passengers to the San Juan Islands and other destinations inaccessible by road. The extent of damage to the aircraft was not disclosed.

Aviation safety in general has drawn heightened public attention in recent months. A fatal trespasser incident at Denver's airport underscored how quickly routine operations can turn dangerous when something unexpected goes wrong on or near a runway, or, in this case, on the water.

Key questions remain unanswered

No one, not the airline, not the Sheriff, not federal investigators, has said what caused the Otter to go down. Weather conditions at the time were not described. Whether the pilot attempted an emergency landing or lost control before reaching the water is unknown. The fire that engulfed the aircraft after impact raises its own set of questions about fuel load and crash dynamics that the NTSB will need to answer.

For now, the story is one of survival. Eleven people went into the water off a remote island, and every one of them came out. That outcome belongs to the sheriff's deputies, Coast Guard crews, volunteer firefighters, and ordinary bystanders who dropped what they were doing and got on boats.

When the investigation is finished, the facts may demand harder questions about maintenance, training, or oversight. Until then, the people who pulled eleven souls from a burning plane in Shallow Bay earned every word of thanks they got.