A tragic crash occurred in western Alaska on Thursday when a small commuter plane, en route from Unalakleet to Nome, went down, killing all 10 people on board. The crash involved a Bering Air Cessna Caravan, a single-engine turboprop plane carrying nine passengers and a pilot.
Authorities lost contact with the aircraft less than an hour after it took off at 2:37 p.m. due to challenging weather conditions, including light snow and fog, with temperatures hovering around 17°F (-8.3°C).
The U.S. Coast Guard, searching for the plane, located the wreckage on sea ice on Friday. A helicopter crew spotted the crash site and deployed rescue swimmers for further investigation. The aircraft, operating at its maximum capacity, disappeared approximately 30 miles southeast of Nome, 12 miles offshore.
Radar data revealed that at about 3:18 p.m., the plane experienced a rapid loss in altitude and speed, but the exact cause of the incident remains unclear. No distress signals were received from the aircraft’s emergency locator device, typically sending a satellite alert if exposed to seawater.
The crash is the third major aviation incident in the U.S. within eight days, following a collision between a commercial jetliner and an Army helicopter near Washington, D.C., and a medical plane crash in Philadelphia.
Local, state, and federal agencies, including the National Guard, assisted in the search, combing over the frozen waters and tundra in the search area. As of Friday, Bering Air had two planes conducting aerial searches in the area. The small community of Unalakleet, with a population of around 690, is situated in a remote region where air travel is crucial, especially during the harsh winter months.
Vigils were planned for Friday to honour the victims, and state officials expressed their condolences to the families of those lost and to the search teams involved.
