Plane located that matches one missing in Alaska with 10 aboard

ANCHORAGE — A plane has been located that matches the description of the one that went missing in Alaska on its way to the hub community of Nome with 10 aboard, authorities said Friday. The remains of three people were found in an initial search of the aircraft.

Cameron Snell, a spokesperson for the U.S. Coast Guard, said crews had not been able to fully open the plane and were continuing to search for the other seven people who were aboard.

“Right now we just know that there’s three,” Snell said Friday afternoon.

The Bering Air Caravan, a single-engine turboprop plane, was heading from Unalakleet to Nome on Thursday afternoon with nine passengers and a pilot, according to Alaska’s Department of Public Safety.

Unalakleet is a community of about 690 people in western Alaska, about 150 miles southeast of Nome and 395 miles northwest of Anchorage by air.

The crash marks the third major incident in U.S. aviation in nine days. A commercial jetliner and an Army helicopter collided near the nation’s capital on Jan. 29, killing 67 people. A medical transportation plane crashed in Philadelphia on Jan. 31, killing the six people aboard and another person on the ground.

The Cessna Caravan left Unalakleet at 2:37 p.m. Thursday, and officials lost contact with it less than an hour later, according to David Olson, director of operations for Bering Air. The aircraft was flying 12 miles offshore, the U.S. Coast Guard said. It was operating at its maximum passenger capacity, according to the airline’s description of the plane.

“Staff at Bering Air is working hard to gather details, get emergency assistance, search and rescue going,” Olson said after the plane went missing.

Bering Air serves 32 villages in western Alaska from its hubs in Nome, Kotzebue and Unalakleet. Most destinations receive twice-daily scheduled flights Monday through Saturday.

Airplanes are often the only option for travel of any distance in rural Alaska, particularly in winter.

The Nome Volunteer Fire Department said earlier in a statement on social media that ground crews were searching about 40 miles along Alaska’s western coast, between Nome and Topkok.

“Due to weather and visibility, we are limited on air search at the current time,” the statement said. People were told not to form their own search parties because the weather was too dangerous.

In addition to the U.S. Coast Guard, the National Guard and Alaska State Troopers helped helping with the search, the Fire Department said.

It was 17 degrees in Unalakleet around takeoff, with light snow and fog, according to the National Weather Service.

The names of the people on board have not been released.

Nome, a Gold Rush town, is south of the Arctic Circle and is known as the ending point of the annual 1,000-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Alaska’s U.S. senators, Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, issued statements about the missing plane on X, saying their thoughts and prayers were with the passengers, their families, rescuers and the Nome community.

U.S. Rep. Nicholas Begich posted on X that he was ready to assist the community of Nome and Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy “in any way we can.”