Alaska’s Juneau In western Alaska, just south of the Arctic Circle, a plane went missing while carrying ten people. On Friday, searchers flew over stretches of ice-covered seas and combed miles of frozen landscape for any sign of the wreckage. FBI investigators were able to locate the aircraft with the use of cellphone tracking data.
According to the Alaska Department of Public Safety, the Bering Air Caravan, a single-engine turboprop, was carrying nine passengers and a pilot when it vanished Thursday afternoon over Norton Sound in Alaska. The plane was traveling approximately 150 miles from the settlement of Unalakleet to Nome.
On Thursday night, the Alaska Air National Guard used an HC-130 aircraft to conduct a search; but, because to inclement weather, a helicopter had to return before it had even reached the search area. Residents were advised not to organize their own search parties due to the hazardous weather conditions, which include sudden snow squalls and strong winds throughout the winter months. In remote Alaska, especially during the winter, airplanes are frequently the only means of transportation for any distance.
The Coast Guard provided an extra C-130 to assist, and the Guard was authorized to operate the helicopter Friday morning, according to a social media message from the Nome Volunteer Fire Department. In order to facilitate the search, the shore Guard intended to deploy a buoy to monitor the passage of sea ice, while a ground crew on snowmobiles was en route inland and along the shore.
The National Weather Service predicted that the partly sunny, extremely cold weather, with a high of 16 degrees, would hold steady until at least Saturday morning.
The plane’s disappearance is the third significant aviation accident in eight days 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.
On Thursday, the Cessna Caravan departed Unalakleet at 2:37 p.m. The National Weather Service reported a temperature of 17 degrees with mild fog and snow.
David Olson, Bering Air’s director of operations, said officials lost communication with the aircraft less than an hour later. According to transponder data, the aircraft’s last known position was approximately 30 miles southeast of Nome, the U.S. Coast Guard stated on Friday. 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. Flightradar24, a flight tracking agency, said that two Bering Air aircraft seemed to be searching in a grid pattern near off the coast Friday morning.
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. The settlement is situated along the Iditarod Trail, which is the path taken by mushers and their teams as they traverse the icy Norton Sound during the most renowned sled dog race in the world.
Known as the terminus of the 1,000-mile Iditarod, Nome is 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/Gene Johnson and Becky Bohrer
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From Seattle, Johnson reported. This report was submitted by Martha Bellisle from Seattle.
The Associated Press
