A Cessna Caravan carrying nine passengers and a pilot disappeared from contact less than an hour after taking off from Unalakleet, Alaska, on Thursday. The plane's last transponder signal came in about 30 miles southeast of Nome, and radar indicated a rapid loss in elevation and speed. A sweeping air and ground search is underway, with the Coast Guard, FBI, and local authorities involved.
Bering Air's passenger terminal in Nome, seen Friday. The company is an institution in the region, providing some of the only regular passenger air service to dozens of communities in Western Alaska . The U.S. Coast Guard said “some sort of item of interest” was spotted by search aircraft around midday Friday but the identity of that object or the status of any of the occupants of the plane was not immediately clear.
The 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. The flight path to Nome takes planes over Norton Sound, which is iced over with an area of open water. Thursday’s flight was a regularly scheduled commuter flight with no children on board, troopers said.
“All families of passengers on the missing flight have been notified,” the update said. “Please keep families in your thoughts at this time.”
MISSING PLANE ALASKA BERING AIR NORTON SOUND COAST GUARD
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