US officials announced on Friday that a search operation is ongoing in rural Alaska after a plane carrying 10 individuals, including the pilot, failed to arrive in Nome as scheduled.
The Bering Air Caravan flight, traveling from Unalakleet to Nome, was reported overdue to the Alaska State Troopers at 4 PM local time, according to the Alaska Department of Public Safety, as cited by NBC News.
The Coast Guard has been alerted, and an active ground search is currently in progress, as stated by the Nome Volunteer Fire Department on social media.
The official Coast Guard account on X reported that the aircraft was last known to be 12 miles offshore between Unalakleet and Nome when its signal was lost.
“The US Coast Guard District 17 responded to an emergency notification from the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center at 4:30 PM regarding a Cessna Caravan with 10 people on board,” the USCG Alaska reported.
In a related incident, CNN reported that a US-contracted surveillance plane crashed in the Philippines on Thursday morning, resulting in the deaths of all four personnel on board, including one US military service member, as confirmed by US Indo-Pacific Command.
Additionally, on January 29, an American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas, collided with a Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, leading to the tragic deaths of 64 individuals, including four crew members from the commercial airline.
