Search underway in Alaska for plane carrying 10 people

A search is underway for an aircraft carrying 10 people which went missing in Alaska on Thursday.

The Bering Air Caravan was heading from Unalakleet to Nome with nine passengers and a pilot, according to Alaska’s Department of Public Safety.

The plane’s last known co-ordinates are yet to be determined, however officials said they lost contact with the plane less an hour after takeoff.

The disappearance marks the third major incident in US aviation in eight days.

Last week, an American Airlines flight and an Army helicopter collided near Washington DC, killing all 67 people on board.

Just days later, a medical transportation plane crashed in Philadelphia on January 31, killing the six people onboard and another person on the ground.

Director of operations for Bering Air, David Olson, said the Cessna Caravan left Unalakleet at 2:37 pm, and officials lost contact with it less than an hour later.

The US Coast Guard said the aircraft was 19 kilometres (12 miles) offshore.

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

The Nome Volunteer Fire Department said in a statement on social media that ground crews were searching across the coast, from Nome to Topkok.

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

A US Coast Guard airplane crew was expected to search the missing aircraft’s last known position. The National Guard were also helping with the search, according to the fire department.

It was -8.3 degrees Celsius in Unalakleet around takeoff, according to the National Weather Service. There was light snow falling and fog.

The names of the people onboard were not yet being released.

Bering Air serves 32 villages in western Alaska from 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.

Unalakleet is a community of about 690 people in western Alaska, about 240 kilometres (about 150 miles) southeast of Nome and about 640 kilometres (395 miles) northwest of Anchorage.

Nome, a Gold Rush town, is just south of the Arctic Circle and is known as the ending point of the 1,610-kilometre (1,000-mile) Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.