An National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) go-team been dispatched to Soldotna, Alaska to investigate a seaplane crash yesterday that claimed the lives of ten people.

The accident involving a de Havilland DHC-3 Otter occurred at 11:20 a.m. (3:20 p.m. ET).

Emergency responders arrived to find the air taxi engulfed in flames. Eyewitnesses said the black smoke from the burning fuselage was visible from three miles away.

The NTSB’s Clint Johnson said it is unclear whether the accident happened during takeoff or landing.

The pilot and co-owner of the company which operated the plane, Rediske Air, was identified as 42-year-old Walter Rediske. A company spokesman described Rediske as a “highly experienced pilot and lifelong Alaskan.”

Soldotna is south of Anchorage on the Kenai Peninsula.