Crews in Alaska are searching for a plane that went missing with 10 people on board.
Alaska State Troopers received reports at 4 p.m. local time that a Bering Air Caravan heading from Unalakleet to Nome carrying nine passengers and a pilot was overdue, according to an online statement.
The Nome Volunteer Fire Department said in a Facebook post that the pilot told Air Traffic Control “he intended to enter a holding pattern while waiting for the runway to be cleared.”
A Coast Guard search and rescue aircraft was dispatched to the the plane’s last known location, 12 miles offshore, according to a statement on X.
The Hercules HC-130 will fly a grid pattern over the water and along the shoreline with equipment that can help locate the plane in conditions with no visibility, the fire department said.
Elmendorf Air Force Base, in Anchorage, also sent flight support.
Ground crews have covered a stretch along the coast from Nome to Topkok, the fire department said, adding that, “We continue to expand search efforts to as many avenues as possible until the plane is located.”
The National Transportation Safety Board said it’s monitoring developments, but the agency doesn’t start investigations until a plane’s fate is determined. It has a team stationed in Alaska year-round.
Bering Air is a Nome-based carrier.
The Cessna Caravan is a single engine propeller plane that holds about 10 people, including the pilot. It’s generally reliable and is widely used.
Alaska is no stranger to small plane accidents, especially during the winter when the weather can make flying very challenging.
There was no early word on what conditions were like when contact with the Bering Air flight was lost.
