A small commuter aircraft that crashed in western Alaska Thursday was found on sea ice on Friday, with officials announcing that all 10 individuals aboard died.
This incident marks one of the most lethal accidents in the state over the past quarter-century.
The plane, operated by Bering Air, had been traveling from Unalakleet to Nome when it vanished on Thursday, only to be found the next day.
This accident comes just weeks after two other aviation incidents took place last month. A deadly midair collision near Reagan Washington National Airport killed 67 people, and a fatal crash in Philadelphia claimed seven lives.
Following these incidents, President Trump pledged to overhaul the Federal Aviation Administration, including by naming a new acting leader and updating the nation’s air traffic control system.
“My heart is broken over the news out of Nome. Alaska is a big small town,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Ala.) wrote on the social platform X about Thursday’s crash. “When tragedy strikes, we’re never far removed from the Alaskans directly impacted. But that also means we come together as a community to grieve and heal.”
Rescue teams used helicopters to search for the plane’s last known position when they discovered the wreckage on Friday, according to Mike Salerno, a representative from the U.S. Coast Guard.
Two rescue swimmers were deployed to assess the situation.
The Coast Guard reported that the aircraft vanished approximately 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Nome. According to radar forensic data from the U.S. Civil Air Patrol, at around 3:18 p.m., the plane experienced some sort of incident that led to a rapid decrease in altitude and speed.
Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Benjamin McIntyre-Coble said he could not “speculate on what that incident was.”
McIntyre-Coble also mentioned that there were no distress signals received from the aircraft, which is equipped with an emergency locating transmitter. This device, when submerged in seawater, sends a signal to a satellite that subsequently alerts the Coast Guard if an aircraft is in trouble.
He claimed the Coast Guard had not received any such messages.
According to Lt. Ben Endres from the Alaska State Troopers, there were ten adults on board, and the flight was a standard commuter service.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
