Missing commuter plane found crashed on Alaska sea ice and all 10 aboard died, authorities say

A small commuter plane crashed en route to Nome, a hub community in western Alaska, and search and rescue teams found the wreckage on sea ice, with all 10 people on board confirmed dead. U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Mike Salerno said rescuers were searching near the plane's last known location by helicopter when they discovered the wreckage.

Subsequently, rescuers dispatched two rescue swimmers onto the ice to investigate. According to the Alaska Department of Public Safety, the single-engine turboprop plane, belonging to Bering Air, took off from Unalakleet on Thursday afternoon with nine passengers and one pilot on board. Bering Air's Director of Operations, David Olson, said the Cessna Caravan aircraft departed Unalakleet at 2:37 p.m., and officials lost contact with the plane less than an hour later.

According to the National Weather Service, there was light snow and fog at the time of the incident, and the temperature was minus 8.3 degrees Celsius. The Coast Guard stated that the plane went missing approximately 48 kilometers southeast of Nome and 19 kilometers from the coastline. The airline described that the plane was operating at maximum passenger capacity at the time.

Coast Guard Lieutenant Commander Benjamin McIntyre-Coble said that radar forensics data provided by the U.S. Civil Air Patrol showed that at approximately 3:18 p.m., the plane experienced "some sort of event that caused them to experience a rapid descent in altitude and speed." But he added, "What that event was, I can't speculate." McIntyre-Coble also stated that he had not received any distress signals from the plane. Aircraft are typically equipped with emergency locator transmitters, which, if exposed to seawater, send a signal to satellites, which then relay the information back to the Coast Guard, indicating that the aircraft may be in distress. However, he said the Coast Guard had not received any such information.

Alaska State Trooper Lieutenant Ben Enders stated that all 10 people on board were adults, and the flight was a regularly scheduled commuter flight. Local, state, and federal agencies were involved in the search and rescue efforts, searching the freezing waters and vast tundra. This plane crash is the third major aviation accident in the United States in eight days. On January 29, a commercial airliner and an Army helicopter collided near the capital, killing 67 people. On January 31, a medical transport plane crashed in Philadelphia, killing all six people on board and one person on the ground.

Most communities in Alaska are not connected to the state's main highway system, and airplanes are often the only option for long-distance travel in rural areas, especially in winter. The region is prone to sudden blizzards and high winds in winter. Bering Air serves 32 villages in western Alaska from hubs in Nome, Kotzebue, and Unalakleet. Most destinations have twice-daily scheduled flights Monday through Saturday. According to the flight tracking service Flightradar24, two Bering Air planes appeared to be conducting grid pattern searches near the coastline on Friday morning.

Unalakleet is a community of approximately 690 people located approximately 240 kilometers southeast of Nome and approximately 640 kilometers northwest of Anchorage. The village is located on the Iditarod Trail, the route of the world's most famous sled dog race, during which mushers and their teams must cross the frozen Norton Sound. Nome, a gold rush town located south of the Arctic Circle, is known as the finish line of the 1,610-kilometer Iditarod. The city said it would hold a prayer vigil for those on board, their friends and family, and those involved in the search and rescue efforts.

Alaska Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan issued statements saying their thoughts and prayers were with the passengers, their families, the rescuers, and the Nome community. U.S. Representative Nick Begich stated on social platform X that he was ready to help Nome and Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy "in any way."