ANCHORAGE, Alaska — On Friday, rescuers looked for any indication of a plane that vanished while transporting ten passengers south of the Arctic Circle across Norton Sound in Alaska.
According to officials on X, the U.S. Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules crew scoured the region between White Mountain and Nome but was unable to locate the missing aircraft. Early on Friday, a Jayhawk helicopter arrived. According to a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board, the organization is keeping an eye on the matter.
According to Alaska’s Department of Public Safety, the Bering Air Caravan, a single-engine turboprop, was carrying nine passengers and a pilot on a Thursday afternoon flight from Unalakleet to Nome. Its last known coordinates were being sought by authorities.
About 690 people live in the western Alaskan town of Unalakleet, which is located 395 miles northwest of Anchorage and 150 miles southeast of Nome.
In eight days, the disappearance is the third significant aircraft accident in the United States. On January 29, an Army helicopter and a commercial airplane collided close to the country’s capital, killing 67 people. Six passengers on board and one person on the ground were killed when a medical transportation plane crashed in Philadelphia on January 31.
David Olson, director of operations for Bering Air, said the Cessna Caravan departed Unalakleet at 2:37 p.m. and authorities lost contact with it less than an hour later. According to the U.S. Coast Guard, the plane was 12 miles offshore. As per the airline’s description, the aircraft was carrying as many passengers as possible.
According to Olson, Bering Air employees are putting forth a lot of effort to collect information, call for emergency help, and launch search and rescue operations.
With hubs in Nome, Kotzebue, and Unalakleet, Bering Air provides service to 32 settlements in western Alaska. Monday through Saturday, flights are scheduled twice day to most locations.
In remote Alaska, especially during the winter, airplanes are frequently the only means of transportation for any distance.
In a social media post, the Nome Volunteer Fire Department stated that ground workers were searching from Nome to Topkok, which is located along a portion of Alaska’s western coast. According to the department, troopers and the National Guard were also assisting in the search.
We are currently constrained in our air search due to visibility and weather conditions, the department stated. Because of the hazardous conditions, people were advised not to organize their own search parties.
According to a department update released early Friday, teams are continuously conducting ground searches, covering as much terrain as they can, but we do not yet have any new information regarding the whereabouts of the missing aircraft.
The National Weather Service reported that the temperature in Unalakleet was 17 degrees at the time of takeoff. There was fog and a little snow falling.
The passengers’ names have not yet been made public.
The 1,000-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race ends at Nome, a Gold Rush town located just south of the Arctic Circle.
U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan of Alaska made remarks regarding the missing plane on X, expressing their condolences to the Nome community, rescuers, passengers, and their families. U.S. Representative Nick Begich wrote on X that he was prepared to help Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and the people of Nome in any manner that he could.
The Associated Press
