WASHINGTON: Crews in Alaska were searching Friday for a small commercial plane that went missing with 10 people on board, local authorities said, in the latest US air incident.
The Bering Air Caravan with nine passengers and one pilot on board was reported overdue Thursday on a flight from Unalakleet to Nome at 4:00 pm Alaska Standard Time (0100 GMT), Alaska state police said.
The two cities are located roughly 146 miles (235 kilometers) apart from each other across the Norton Sound, on the state’s west coast.
Nome’s volunteer fire department said in a Facebook post that “the pilot of the plane told Anchorage air traffic control that “he intended to enter a holding pattern while waiting for the runway to be cleared” before disappearing.
The department added that the US Coast Guard had dispatched a C-130 plane to assist ground crews in locating the missing craft.
In the latest update on Friday, it said: “We do not have any updated information on the location of the missing aircraft.
“Crews are still searching on the ground, canvassing as much area as possible.”
The plane’s last known position transmitted on FlightRadar24 was over the water around 40 minutes after takeoff.
The missing flight is the latest incident in a recent string of aviation disasters in the United States.
On January 30, a passenger jet collided midair with a US Army helicopter in the capital city of Washington, killing all 67 people aboard both aircraft.
The disaster was followed closely by the crash of a medical plane into a busy Philadelphia neighborhood, killing seven and injuring 19.
