Authorities in Alaska have verified that a plane carrying ten persons has vanished.
According to an Alaska Department of Public Safety (DPS) statement, the Bering Air Caravan flight from Unalakleet to Nome was reported to be late at approximately 4 p.m. local time on Thursday, February 6.
Nine passengers and one pilot were confirmed to be on board, according to the announcement. According to local publication KTUU, Bering Air Director of Operations David Olson stated that the aircraft had left Unalakleet at 2:37 p.m.
In a preliminary Facebook post, the Nome Volunteer Fire Department also stated, “We are currently responding to a report of a missing Bering Air caravan.”
“We are currently doing an active ground search from Nome and from White Mountain and have as much up to date information on the event as possible,” they stated.
“We are now hampered in our air search due to visibility and weather conditions. Troopers, the Coast Guard, and the National Guard have been alerted and are actively searching. The agency stated, “Norton Sound Health Corporation is on standby.”
“We kindly encourage the public to consider anyone who might be missing at this time, but please refrain from organizing separate search parties owing to safety and weather issues. The message also said, “Families are encouraged to seek support at Norton Sound Health Corporation.”
A C-130 Coast Guard aircraft was “planning to scope the area,” according to the agency, and “the pilot of the plane” had “told Anchorage Air Traffic Control that he intended to enter a holding pattern while waiting for the runway to be clear.”
“The C-130 has arrived in the Nome Area,” the fire department wrote in another statement. Instead of landing, the plane will fly in a grid pattern over the shoreline and sea in an effort to find itself. The aircraft is outfitted with sophisticated search and rescue gear that allows them to find persons and objects in low visibility situations.
“The aircraft was transiting from Unalakleet to Nome 12 miles offshore when its position was lost,” the U.S. Coast Guard Alaska maritime region wrote on X.
According to the X account of live flight tracker Flightradar24, the aircraft’s last position was recorded at 5,300 feet at approximately 3:16 p.m. The average flight time was 47 minutes, according to the website.
The plane “disappeared from the radar somewhere along the coast of Nome to Topkok,” White Mountain fire chief Jack Adams told KTUU’s Alaska’s News Source, adding that authorities had been searching the roughly “30-mile stretch.”
According to the outlet, the chief also stated, “They’re ready to be out all night, they will search here until they find them or somebody else finds them.” “We’ll probably get another crew to go and help if they don’t find anything.”
“We’re hoping [the plane] is on land, being in the water would be the worst-case scenario,” Adams told the source, pointing out that the sea ice was “kind of jumbled.”
The word is that there is no visibility and all flights are grounded. According to the journal, Adams went on, “Basically, you can’t see anything from the air or the ground, and it’s a tough job looking for something in the dark with zero visibility.”
For further information, PEOPLE contacted the Alaska Department of Public Safety and Bering Air, but they did not respond right away.
