Girl, 16, burned in fatal Alaska plane crash to return to Texas home for long recovery

Girl burned in Alaska crash to head home to Texas

SEATTLE — A 16-year-old girl who survived the fiery crash of a light plane in Anchorage last month faces months of physical therapy but says she’s determined to recover and rejoin her high school basketball team.

Rachel Zientek (ZEN-tek) is being discharged Thursday from Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center, where she has been treated for extensive burns since the June 1 crash. She says she’s grateful for her rescuers and that they gave her back her life.

The Houston girl was aboard a single-engine plane that crashed near downtown Anchorage shortly after takeoff. Dozens of people near the crash site ran to the plane to get the victims out of the wreckage as it burst into flames.

Three others aboard the plane were critically burned, and a 4-year-old boy died.