Missing commuter plane found crashed on Alaska sea ice and all 10 aboard died, authorities say

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A small commuter plane that crashed in western 
Alaska on its way to the hub community of Nome was located Friday on sea 
ice, and all 10 people on board were dead, authorities said. The crash 
was one of the deadliest in the state in the last 25 years.

Rescuers were searching the aircraft's last known location by helicopter 
when the wreckage was spotted, said Mike Salerno, a spokesperson for the 
U.S. Coast Guard. Two rescue swimmers were lowered to investigate.

A photo provided by the Coast Guard showed the plane's splintered body 
and debris lying on the sea ice. Two people in brightly colored 
emergency gear circled the wreckage.

“It’s hard to accept the reality of our loss,” U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski 
said during an evening news conference.

Nome Mayor John Handeland choked up as he discussed the deaths and the 
response effort.

“Nome is a strong community, and in challenging times we come together 
and support each other. I expect the outpouring of support to continue 
in the coming days as we all work to recover from this tragic incident,” 
Handeland said.

A prayer service was announced for later in the evening.

Already the focus was shifting to a recovery operation because of 
rapidly changing conditions. Officials outlined the challenges including 
bad weather expected in the next 18 hours and “young ice” that was 
slushy and not stable.

“They are on the ice as we speak,” said Jim West, chief of the Nome 
Volunteer Fire Department. “The conditions out there are dynamic, and so 
we’ve got to do it safely and the fastest way we can.”

The Bering Air single-engine turboprop plane was traveling from 
Unalakleet on Thursday afternoon with nine passengers and a pilot, 
Alaska’s Department of Public Safety said. It was operating at its 
maximum passenger capacity, according to the airline’s description of 
the plane.

The Cessna Caravan left Unalakleet at 2:37 p.m., and officials lost 
contact with it less than an hour later, according to David Olson, 
director of operations for Bering Air. There was light snow and fog, 
with a temperature of 17 degrees (minus 8.3 Celsius), according to the 
National Weather Service.

The Coast Guard said the aircraft went missing about 30 miles (48 
kilometers) southeast of Nome.

Radar forensic data provided by the U.S. Civil Air Patrol indicated that 
about 3:18 p.m., 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.”

McIntyre-Coble said he was unaware of any distress signals from the 
aircraft. Planes carry an emergency locating transmitter. If exposed to 
seawater, the device sends a signal to a satellite, which then relays 
that message back to the Coast Guard to indicate an aircraft may be in 
distress. No such messages were received by the Coast Guard, he said.

All 10 people on board the plane were adults, and the flight was a 
regularly scheduled commuter trip, according to Lt. Ben Endres of the 
Alaska State Troopers.

Two people who died in the crash were on a work trip for a non-profit 
tribal health organization, according to Alaska’s News Source. The other 
people’s names have not been released.

Local, state and federal agencies had assisted in the search effort, 
combing stretches of ice-dotted waters and scouring miles of frozen tundra.

The National Transportation Safety Board was sending nine people to the 
scene from various states.

Flying is an essential mode of transportation in Alaska due to the 
vastness of the landscape and limited infrastructure. Most communities 
are not connected to the developed road system that serves the state’s 
most populous region, and it’s common to travel by small plane.

Some high school teams fly to sporting events against rival high 
schools, and goods are brought to many communities by barge or by air.

The plane's crash marks the third major U.S. aviation mishap in eight 
days. A commercial jetliner and an Army helicopter collided near the 
nation’s capital on Jan. 29, killing 67 people. A medical transportation 
plane crashed in Philadelphia on Jan. 31, killing the six people on 
board and another person on the ground.

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.

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.

https://www.11alive.com/article/news/nation-world/search-underway-for-plane-carrying-10-people-alaska/507-a1d4969f-b001-4052-8119-838ff14701c0?ref=exit-recirc