Plane Carrying 10 People Goes Missing in Alaska

The Cessna caravan was traveling from Alaska’s Unalakleet to Nome.

The city of Nome, Alaska, awaits the first Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race musher on March 14, 2023. Loren Holmes/Anchorage Daily News via AP

A search has been launched after a Bering Air plane carrying 10 people went missing from radar near Nome in Alaska on Thursday afternoon, according to local officials.

The plane, a Cessna caravan, was en route from Alaska’s Unalakleet to Nome when it disappeared from radar, the Nome Volunteer Fire Department said in a statement.

“We are currently responding to a report of a missing Bering Air caravan,” the department stated. “National Guard and Coast Guard and Troopers have been notified and are active in the search.”

The department said that it had launched ground searches in Nome and White Mountain for the missing plane, but the weather conditions complicated aerial search efforts.

“Due to weather and visibility, we are limited on air search at the current time,” it stated. “We ask the public to please think of those who may be missing at this time, but due to weather and safety concerns please do not form individual search parties.”

The Alaska Department of Public Safety said that it received a report about “an overdue aircraft” with nine passengers and one pilot onboard at about 4 p.m. local time. Efforts to locate the plane’s last known coordinates are still ongoing, it stated.

The Epoch Times has reached out to Bering Air for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

Before its disappearance, the pilot informed air traffic control in Anchorage that “he intended to enter a holding pattern while waiting for the runway to be cleared,” the Nome Volunteer Fire Department said in an update.

In another update, the department said that a C-130 Coast Guard plane has joined the search to scope the area and assist ground crews in locating the missing plane from the air. Elmendorf Air Force Base has also sent flight support to help with the search operation, it added.

“Ground crews have covered ground all along the coast from Nome to Topkok,” the fire department stated. The plane’s “exact location is still unknown. We continue to expand search efforts to as many avenues as possible until the plane is located.”

The department said that families of passengers could seek support at the Norton Sound Health Corporation. The health institute issued a notice saying that it will stand ready “to respond to a community medical emergency.” No further details were provided.

Unalakleet is a community of about 690 people in western Alaska, located approximately 150 miles southeast of Nome and 395 miles northwest of Anchorage. Local media reported that a Federal Aviation Administration weather camera near Nome appeared to show near-whiteout conditions for several hours on Thursday afternoon.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.