ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska emergency crews will attempt Friday to recover the remains of eight cruise ship passengers and a pilot who were killed when their sightseeing plane crashed in a remote and rugged area of southeastern Alaska.

Wind and rain prevented any recovery after the wreckage of the aircraft was found Thursday against a granite rock face, 800 feet above a lake.

There was no immediate indication of why the DeHavilland DHC-3 Otter turboprop went down, killing the nine people during the sightseeing excursion. No names have been released.

Clint Johnson, head of the National Transportation Safety Board’s Alaska office, said it was too soon to know circumstances of the crash, including whether the plane flew into the cliff.