The mangled wreckage of a plane with 10 bodies inside was found on Friday near the western coast of Alaska and is believed to be the aircraft that vanished the day before, a spokesman for the U.S. Coast Guard in Alaska said.
The Coast Guard posted an image on social media of a downed plane in snow that was found about 34 miles southeast of Nome. The spokesman, Lt. Cmdr. Mike Salerno, said the bodies of 10 people on board had been recovered.
The Coast Guard said that the plane matched the description of Bering Air Flight 445, which left Unalakleet, Alaska, at about 2:40 p.m. local time on Thursday before it vanished roughly 10 minutes before it was scheduled to arrive in Nome.
A radar analysis showed that the Bering flight, a Cessna 208 Caravan, experienced “a rapid loss of altitude” and a “corresponding rapid loss in speed,” Lt. Benjamin McIntyre-Coble of the Coast Guard said at a news conference on Friday.
A pilot and nine passengers were on board, said David Olson, the airline’s director of operations. Bering Air’s Caravans can carry as many as nine passengers, according to the airline.
When its position was lost, the aircraft was 12 miles offshore, the Coast Guard said in a statement.
The plane was later reported overdue, the Alaska State troopers said, meaning that it had not reached the airport 30 minutes past its estimated arrival time. The Federal Aviation Administration said it issued a search-and-rescue alert notice around 3:20 p.m.
On Friday, the Nome Volunteer Fire Department said that the families of all of the occupants of the plane had been notified.
The Fire Department said that the weather conditions made visibility in the area poor, warning residents not to form their own search parties.
Before the plane disappeared, its pilot told air traffic control in Anchorage that he had intended to enter a holding pattern while waiting for the runway in Nome to be cleared, according to the Fire Department.
Alaska’s Transportation Department said the runway at Nome Airport that the plane had been approaching had remained open throughout Thursday.
Maintenance crews had de-iced the runway, said Danielle Tessen, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Department, which operates the runway.
Weather conditions in the region between Unalakleet and Nome included snow, fog and low temperatures, she added.
More than 80 percent of communities in Alaska are inaccessible by road, according to the Transportation Department. Air connections, especially those provided by regional carriers like Bering Air, are essential for delivering supplies like fuel and food.
Bering Air is based in Nome, with hubs in Kotzebue and Unalakleet, and operates flights to 32 destinations, according to its website. Nome is home to about 3,500 people, and Unalakleet about 800.
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