SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Two people were critically injured when an aircraft carrying 42 people crashed late Thursday at an airport in Unalaska, a city in the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, local media reported Friday.

The SAAB-Scania 2000 twin engine turboprop jet of Peninsula Airways (PenAir) went off the runway during an attempted landing at the airport at Dutch Harbor in the Alaska state, the Anchorage Daily News (ADN) said.

Alaska Airlines said PenAir Flight 3296, which flew from Anchorage to Dutch Harbor, was marketed by the company, although the aircraft was operated by PenAir and the crew were PenAir employees.

The plane was carrying 39 passengers and three crew members, said Alaska Airlines, and the ADN reported that a high school swim team from the Alaska community of Cordova was on board the plane and remained fine after the crash.

The newspaper quoted an eyewitness as saying that the aircraft slid off the runway about 150 meters beyond the airport, with the plane's nose hanging over a rock embankment.

The cause of the incident is still under investigation.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) tweeted Friday that it has dispatched experts to Alaska to probe the air crash.

"NTSB sending team of 9 to Unalaska, AK to investigate Oct. 17, 2019, accident involving Peninsula Air #3296, Saab SB20, that overran runway on landing. More information will be released when available," it said in the tweet. Enditem

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