Eight people were killed when a small charter plane crashed near a remote military radar site in Alaska, according to multiple news outlets reporting on the incident Thursday. All eight individuals aboard the aircraft died in the crash, which occurred at a location described as difficult to access in a sparsely populated region of the state.

Two of the victims have been identified as workers employed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, according to PBS NewsHour. The remaining passengers were also believed to be connected to operations at or near the remote radar installation, though full identification of all victims was pending notification of next of kin.

Charter flights are a common and often essential mode of transportation in rural Alaska, where vast distances and limited road infrastructure make air travel a primary means of reaching remote work sites and communities. The radar site involved is among several military and defense-related installations scattered across Alaska's interior and coastal regions.

Federal investigators, including the National Transportation Safety Board, are expected to lead the inquiry into the cause of the crash. Alaska's challenging terrain and variable weather conditions are frequently cited as contributing factors in aviation incidents in the state, though investigators had not yet publicly identified a cause in this case.