An aircraft carrying 10 people went missing in rural Alaska on Thursday during dangerous winter weather, and crews scoured the ground for any sign of them.
The Bering Air Caravan was reported missing at about 4 p.m. while en route from Unalakleet to Nome with nine passengers and a pilot, according to Alaska's Department of Public Safety. Authoriteis 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 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 (about 19 kilometers) offshore, according to the U.S. 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.
The Nome Volunteer Fire Department said in a statement on social media that it was conducting a ground search from Nome and White Mountain.
“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.
The National Guard, the Coast Guard and troopers were also helping with the search, according to the fire department.
A Federal Aviation Administration weather camera near Nome appeared to show near-whiteout conditions over several hours Thursday afternoon, according to Alaska’s News Source
The names of the people onboard were not yet being released.
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 Trail Sled Dog Race.
