US: Search underway for plane carrying 10

Anchorage (US): Rescuers searched on Friday for any sign of a plane that went missing while carrying 10 people across Alaska’s Norton Sound south of the Arctic Circle.

The Bering Air Caravan was heading from Unalakleet to Nome on Thursday afternoon with nine passengers and a pilot, according to Alaska’s Department of Public Safety. Authorities were working to determine its last known coordinates. Unalakleet is a community of about 690 people in western Alaska, about 150 miles (about 240 kilometers) southeast of Nome and 395 miles (about 640 kilometers) northwest of Anchorage.

The disappearance marks the third major incident in US aviation in eight days. A commercial jetliner and an Army helicopter collided near the nation’s capital on January 29, killing 67 people. A medical transportation plane crashed in Philadelphia on January 31, killing the six people onboard and another person on the ground. 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. The aircraft was 12 miles (19 kilometers) offshore, according to the US Coast Guard.

“Staff at Bering Air is working hard to gather details, get emergency assistance, search and rescue going,” Olson said.

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.

Airplanes are often the only option for travel of any distance in rural Alaska, particularly in winter. The Nome Volunteer Fire Department said in a statement on social media that ground crews were searching across the coast, from Nome to Topkok. “Due to weather and visibility, we are limited on air search at the current time,” it said. People were told not to form their own search parties because the weather was

too dangerous. agencies