Americans unfortunately sank at sea (8)

I believe the answer is:

alaskans

'americans' is the definition.
(Alaskan is an example)

'unfortunately sank at sea' is the wordplay.
'unfortunately' becomes 'alas' ('alas' is used to express regret).
'at sea' is an anagram indicator.
'sank' with letters rearranged gives 'kans'.
'alas'+'kans'='ALASKANS'

(Another definition for alaskans that I've seen is " Citizens of one state".)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.

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