Alaska’s Bering Air Caravan, carrying 10 people across the Norton Sound south of the Arctic Circle, went missing on Thursday afternoon.
The aircraft was heading from Unalakleet to Nome with nine passengers and a pilot. The aircraft was located 12 miles offshore, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
According to David Olson, the director of operations for Bering Air, officials lost communication with the aircraft less than an hour after it departed from Unalakleet.
L-R: Unalakleet, Alaska – the city location of the departing plane of the pilot carrying 9 passengers; Google Image Search, and the Bering Air Caravan; Wikipedia
Ground crew rescuers are diligently searching for clues, searching for the missing crew, and having rescue operations enforced. The Nome Volunteer Fire Department is restricting air search operations due to weather conditions and limited air visibility and warns others from conducting their own search due to the dangerous weather conditions. According to the Seattle Times, airplanes are often the only option for travel of any distance in rural Alaska, particularly in winter.
The disappearance follows two other major U.S. aviation incidents that occured in less than two weeks; an American Airlines plane and an Army helicopter collision near Reagan International Airport on Jan. 29th, killing 67 people, and a medical airplane bound for Mexico crashing in Northeast Philadelphia on Jan. 31st, killing 7 people (6 onboard and 1 at ground level).