The Bering Air Caravan, a single-engine turboprop, was heading from Unalakleet to Nome on Thursday afternoon with nine passengers and a pilot, according to Alaska's Department of Public Safety. Authorities were working to determine its last known coordinates.
Unalakleet is a community of about 690 people in western Alaska, about 150 miles (about 240 kilometers) southeast of Nome and 395 miles northwest of Anchorage.
The disappearance marks the third major incident in U.S. aviation in eight days. A commercial jetliner and an Army helicopter collided at D.C.'s Reagan Airport on Jan. 29, killing 67 people. And on Jan 31, a medical transportation plane crashed on takeoff in Philadelphia, killing the six people onboard and another person on the ground.
In the Alaska incident, the Cessna Caravan left Unalakleet at 2:37 p.m., and officials lost contact with it less than an hour later, according to David Olson, director of operations for Bering Air. The aircraft was 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.
