The plane carrying 10 people went missing in a remote area along Alaska’s west coast on Thursday, and began a search in the midst of bad weather, officials said.
The Cessna 208 Caravan at Bering Air Flight 445 left Unalakreet, Alaska, around 2:40pm local time, said David Olson, the airline’s operations director. The plane was off the radar and lost radio contact between the air transport and the airline around 3:20pm, he said, and was scheduled to arrive at Gnome about 10 minutes before.
The pilot and nine passengers were on board, Olson added that their names would not be released anytime soon. According to the airline, Bering Air caravans can carry as many as nine passengers.
When the location was lost, the aircraft was 12 miles offshore, the U.S. Coast Guard said in a statement. The plane was later reported to expire, meaning that Alaska police officers had not reached the airport after an estimated arrival time of 30 minutes.
MNA