There are no survivors aboard the Cessna Caravan carrying 10 people that crashed Thursday afternoon on a flight from Unalakleet to Nome in western Alaska, the U.S. Coast Guard said Friday.
Coast Guard rescuers found the missing plane on the Norton Sound sea ice roughly 34 miles southeast of Nome, the agency said Friday.
They were able to reach three people and determined they were deceased, Lt. Cmdr. Mike Salerno said. It’s clear there were no other survivors, Salerno said.
“Our thoughts are with those affected by this tragic incident,” the Coast Guard said.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause of the crash.
The Caravan carrying nine passengers and a pilot disappeared from contact less than an hour after taking off just after 2:30 p.m. Thursday. The plane’s last transponder signal came in about 30 miles southeast of Nome, according to the Coast Guard.
The flight path to Nome crosses over Norton Sound.
Radar at the time showed that at about 3:18 p.m. Thursday, “this aircraft experienced some type of event, which caused them to experience a rapid loss in elevation and a rapid loss in speed,” Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Benjamin McIntyre-Coble said during a media briefing Friday. “What that event is, I can’t speculate to.”
The agency commenced an immediate search and rescue response, he said.
A sweeping air and ground search began Thursday and continued Friday that included search and rescue groups from White Mountain and Nome, Alaska State Troopers, the Coast Guard and the Alaska National Guard. A command center operated out of the Nome Volunteer Fire Department. Police in Nome asked for community members with boats to provide help Thursday night. The FBI assisted with technical resources to try to locate the missing people via cellphone signal.
The Caravan left Unalakleet at 2:37 p.m., according to Bering Air. Thursday’s flight was a regularly scheduled commuter route with no children on board, troopers said.
The aircraft was 12 miles offshore at its last known location, the Coast Guard said.
There was no signal from the plane’s emergency beacon, according to a Nome Volunteer Fire Department update Friday.
“All families of passengers on the missing flight have been notified,” the update said. “Please keep families in your thoughts at this time.”
Several agencies participating in Friday’s briefing declined to provide information about the pilot and passengers.
An NTSB investigator traveled to Nome Thursday and a team is arriving from Washington D.C. to investigate the incident, according to Clint Johnson, the agency’s Alaska chief. Board Chair Jennifer Homendy plans to travel to Alaska this weekend.
The Nome area experienced freezing rain, light snow and fog on Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. The weather was “challenging” when the search began Thursday, with air temperatures in the area around 3 degrees and water temperatures in the high 20s, McIntyre-Coble said.
Bering Air canceled all flights Friday.
The weather in Nome was clear the day after the plane went down, with temperatures around 5 degrees — a change from Thursday, when the southern edge of the Seward Peninsula was socked in for much of the afternoon, with blowing snow and flurries.
Bering Air, which has operated since 1979, serves 32 villages in Western Alaska from hubs in Nome, Kotzebue and Unalakleet. For most of the villages beyond the hubs, the carrier is the only regular option for travel such as trips to Nome or Anchorage for medical appointments, groceries, or school sports tournaments.
The crash marks the third major aviation incident in the U.S. in just over a week. The midair collision of a commercial jet and a U.S. Army helicopter over the Potomac River killed 67 people on Jan. 29. Six people on board and a person on the ground died when a medical transport plane crashed in Philadelphia on Jan. 31.
The crash appears to be Alaska’s deadliest since 2013, when 10 people died in Soldotna during takeoff of a Rediske Air Inc. charter carrying two families going bear viewing.
It also appears to be the first fatal crash for Bering Air since 1987, when the pilot of a cargo flight died following a crash near Ambler, according to an NTSB database.
Members of Alaska’s congressional delegation — U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan and U.S. Rep. Nick Begich III — posted messages of support as the Bering Air search continued into Friday.
Murkowski in a post on X Friday afternoon expressed gratitude for the search organizations and grief for the loss of those on the flight and to the communities of Nome and Unalakleet.
“My heart is broken over the news out of Nome,” she wrote. “Alaska is a big small town. When tragedy strikes, we’re never far removed from the Alaskans directly impacted. But that also means we come together as a community to grieve and heal.”
Gov. Mike Dunleavy in a post on X Friday afternoon said he and his wife, Rose, were “heartbroken by the loss of the 10 people on the Bering Air flight. Our prayers are with the families, friends, and communities mourning this tragedy.We are grateful to the search teams who worked tirelessly to locate the aircraft. I ask all Alaskans to keep those affected in their thoughts and prayers.”
The City of Nome is planning multifaith prayer vigils at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Friday.
This is a developing story and will be updated.