3 people killed in plane crash near remote Alaska town were from Bay Area

Three of the four people killed in a small plane crash near a remote coastal town in Alaska were from the Bay Area, officials said.

The Alaska Department of Public Safety said a Piper PA-24 was heading to an airport in the small town of Seldovia after it took off from Anchorage on Wednesday.

The plane crashed into shallow waters and the plane became submerged in about 15 feet of water in the Seldovia Slough.

All four people on board died. 

The three people from the Bay Area were identified by the Alaska Department of Public Safety as 82-year-old Daniel Smith of Los Gatos, 65-year-old Ronald Schmidt and 20-year-old Lance Schmidt, both from San Jose. 

The pilot was identified as 68-year-old Eric Middlebrook of Anchorage, Alaska. The Associated Press reported that Middlebrook was the former mayor of Bethel, a western Alaska town with about 6,000 people. 

It's not clear what caused the crash and the NTSB is investigating.