A small plane that was reported missing in western Alaska on its way to the hub community of Nome was found crashed Friday on sea ice, and all 10 people aboard the Bering Air flight were killed, authorities said.
Mike Salerno, a spokesperson for the U.S. Coast Guard, said rescuers were searching the aircraft’s last known location by helicopter when they spotted the wreckage. They lowered two rescue swimmers to investigate.
The U.S. Coast Guard’s Alaska regional office said on X that three bodies were found inside the aircraft, but the remaining seven victims were “inaccessible due to the condition of the plane.”
“From reports we have received, the crash was not survivable,” the Nome Volunteer Fire Department said in a Facebook post. “Our thoughts are with the families at this time.”
The Bering Air Caravan, a single-engine turboprop, was heading from Unalakleet to Nome on Thursday afternoon with nine adult passengers and a pilot, according to Alaska’s Department of Public Safety.
The names of the people on board haven’t been released.
Global Affairs Canada said in a statement to Motorcycle accident toronto today it was aware of the missing plane, but “based on current information, no Canadians are believed to be on the flight.”
Local, state and federal agencies assisted in the search effort, flying over stretches of ice-dotted waters and scouring miles of frozen tundra.
The National Guard was approved to fly a helicopter Friday morning, and the Coast Guard and others also were taking part in aerial search efforts. The Coast Guard planned to drop a buoy to help track the movement of sea ice, and a ground crew on snowmobiles headed along the coast and farther inland.
The Nome Volunteer Fire Department reported the plane missing in a Facebook post on Friday, asking the public not to form individual search parties for the missing plane due to bad weather and safety concerns.
The Cessna Caravan left Unalakleet at 2:37 p.m. local time Thursday, and officials lost contact with it less than an hour later, with the plane’s last reporting information at 3:16 p.m., according to David Olson, director of operations for Bering Air. The aircraft was 12 miles (19 kilometres) offshore, the U.S. Coast Guard said. It was operating at its maximum passenger capacity, according to the airline’s description of the plane.
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“Staff at Bering Air is working hard to gather details, get emergency assistance, search and rescue going,” Olson said.
Radar forensic data provided by the U.S. Civil Air Patrol indicated that about 3:18 p.m. Thursday, the plane had “some kind of event which caused them to experience a rapid loss in elevation and a rapid loss in speed,” Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Benjamin McIntyre-Coble said.
“What that event is, I can’t speculate to.”
White Mountain fire Chief Jack Adams told Alaska’s News Source that all aircraft are grounded due to “zero visibility.”
“Basically, you can’t see anything from the air or the ground, and in the dark looking for something in zero visibility is a tough job,” Adams added.
It was 17 F (-8.3 C) in Unalakleet around takeoff, according to the National Weather Service. There was fog and light snowfall.
Unalakleet is a community of about 690 people about 150 miles (about 240 kilometers) southeast of Nome and 395 miles (about 640 kilometers) northwest of Anchorage. The village is on the Iditarod trail, route of the world’s most famous sled dog race, during which mushers and their teams must cross the frozen Norton Sound.
Nome, a Gold Rush town, is just south of the Arctic Circle and is known as the ending point of the 1,000-mile (1,610-kilometer) Iditarod. The city said prayer vigils would be held Friday for those on board the plane, friends and family and those involved in search efforts.
Bering Air serves 32 villages in western Alaska from hubs in Nome, Kotzebue and Unalakleet. Most destinations receive twice-daily scheduled flights Monday through Saturday.
Airplanes are often the only option for travel of any distance in rural Alaska, particularly in winter.
—With files from The Associated Press
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