Beloved ex-mayor and 3 family members ID’d as victims of horror small plane crash into lagoon near remote Alaska town

A BELOVED former mayor and three of his family members have been named as those killed in a horror plane crash earlier this week. Everyone on board the small aircraft lost their life after the plane plunged into icy waters near a remote town in Alaska. Beloved ex-mayor Eric Middlebrook was killed in the horror crash on Wednesday Credit: Facebook / Molly Creasey Eric was a seasoned pilot who often flew across the US on business Credit: Family Handout Eric Middlebrook, 68, had served as mayor of Bethel – a tiny Alaskan town of 6,000 people – from 2006 to 2011. He had been piloting the plane with three Californian residents – Daniel Simons, 82, of Los Gatos, Ronald Schmidt, 65, and 20-year-old Lance Schmidt, both of San Jose. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! All four victims were related, according to public records. The tragedy unfolded on a trip from Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city, to the tiny town of Seldovia. The Piper PA-24-260 went down at around 1.15pm on Wednesday. Alaskan troopers and an emergency helicopter scrambled to the scene – but they were unable to reach the submerged craft for several hours. The small plane had sunk to a depth of around 15ft in frigid 38F (3°C) waters. Rescue teams only reached the wrecked plane at around 6:30pm – more than five hours after the crash. Most read in The Sun The plane plumetted into icy waters near the remote Alskan town of Seldovia Credit: Getty All four people aboard the Piper plane were killed Credit: Getty Tragic footage shows several boats and first responders recovering the bodies of the dead from the submerged wreckage. Tributes to the victims have poured in from across social media. Bethel city council member Mark Springer recounted that his former mayor was “a real hardworking guy”. Eric had been a refrigerator technician with his own business, and Mark recounted how he frequently flew to villages to help them fix their refridgerators as part of his business. “He was a fixture in the community and he was a respected guy”, he said, adding: “He was known all over the [Yukon–Kuskokwim] Delta. It’s a tragic loss. “He was a pretty cool guy. He was well-known here in Bethel and well-liked.” Eric was killed alongside his brother Ronald Schmidt, a marketing representative at Cisco Systems in San Jose, California. Ronald had previously told local paper The Appeal Democrat that his brother Eric was “very talented and very smart, but no one ever guessed politics as his forte”. US Senator Dan Sullivan, from Alska, said he was “praying for the families and loved ones of those who were killed”. “These tragedies are heartbreaking and unacceptable, which is why aviation safety and infrastructure in Alaska continue to be a top focus of mine.” He has vowed to “get to the bottom of this tragedy”. It comes just days after another plane plummetted and crashed in western Alaska, killing all eight people on board. Rescue teams raced to the scene of the tragedy near an Air Force site in Cape Newenham – but later confirmed there were no survivors. Comment now