Search on for overdue plane with 10 on board in Alaska

A search is underway in Alaska after a plane with 10 people on board did not arrive in Nome when scheduled, officials said.

The Bering Air Caravan flight, from Unalakleet to Nome, was reported overdue to Alaska State Troopers at 4 p.m. local time, the law enforcement agency said.

Nine passengers and a pilot were on board, officials said.

The Coast Guard has been notified, and there is also an active ground search, the Nome Volunteer Fire Department said in a statement on social media. Weather conditions limited air operations Thursday afternoon, it said.

A C-130 Coast Guard plane with equipment that can detect people and objects under poor visibility will fly a grid pattern over the area, the fire department said in an update around 8 p.m. Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage is also sending flight support, the fire department said.

“Ground crews have covered ground all along the coast from Nome to Topkok,” the fire department said. The plane’s exact location is still unknown, and “we continue to expand search efforts to as many avenues as possible until the plane is located.”

Bering Air Director of Operations David Olson said the flight took off from Unalakleet at 2:37 p.m., NBC affiliate KTUU of Anchorage reported.

The Coast Guard in Alaska said on X that the plane was 12 miles offshore going from Unalakleet to Nome when its position was lost.

White Mountain Fire Chief Jack Adams told KTUU that the plane disappeared from radar along the coast of Nome to Topkok and that crews were searching a 30-mile stretch.

“We’re hoping [the plane] is on land, being in the water would be the worst-case scenario,” Adams told the station, noting there is sea ice in the water.

Unalakleet is a small coastal community on the western coast of Alaska off Norton Sound, and Nome is around 141 miles to the northwest.