What happened
During an active aerial firefighting mission, the aircraft known as Tanker 34 was performing a water scooping maneuver on the surface of Lake Gutierrez. While executing this procedure, the aircraft type (unspecified) collided with an unidentified floating object, which may have been a tree trunk.
Following the impact, the plane came to a stop and settled in the water. The incident resulted in one fatality and one survivor. Emergency responders were able to rescue the pilot from the wreckage, but the second crew member did not survive the accident.
Findings
Initial reports indicate that the primary factor in the crash was the collision with a floating obstacle during the low-altitude water collection phase of the mission.