Four die as Cessna crashes and burns after collision with another float plane

This is the pilot, his wife and two young children who died after the plane he was flying collided with another aircraft as they flew near an Alaskan lake.

Corey Carlson, a 41-year-old private pilot, died with his wife Hetty, 39, and their two chidlren after their single-engine float plane crashed and bued.

The second plane landed safely despite significant damage.

The Cessna 180 was destroyed by the impact and fire, said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor.

All dead: Corey Carlson, his wife, Hetty Baett Carlson, centre, and their daughters, Ella, 5, standing, and Adelaide 'Addie', 3, are shown during a month long vacation in Kolenea, Hawaii, in February

'It was engulfed in flames on the ground,' Alaska State Trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters said.

The crash around Amber Lake near Trapper Creek, 80 miles north of Anchorage, came nearly three weeks after another in-flight collision that remarkably left the 13 people aboard the two aircraft unhurt.

The second plane in Saturday's crash, a Cessna 206, sustained significant damage but was able to retu to Anchorage Inteational Airport and make an emergency landing, after the collision around Amber lake near Trapper Creek.

Pilot Kevin Earp, 56, of Eagle River was alone in the aircraft and uninjured, Miss Peters said in a news release.

Tucked away: Trapper Creek is about 80 miles north of Anchorage

She said late Saturday that four bodies were recovered from the wreckage.

Authorities initially said at least two people were killed.

The State Medical Examiner's office was working to identify the dead.

There was no immediate word on how the collision occurred.

On July 10, nine people aboard a Piper Navajo and four people in a Cessna 206 were uninjured when the planes collided. Both aircraft had minor damage but were able to land safely in Anchorage, with FAA spokesman Mike Fergus then describing the incident as 'almost unheard of.'