Small aircraft with 10 aboard missing in Alaska

An aircraft carrying 10 people disappeared in a remote region along the western coast of Alaska on Thursday and set a search in the middle of bad weather, officials said.

Cessna 208 Caravan, on Bering Air Flight 445, left Unalakleet, Alaska, around 2 p.m. 14.40 local time, said David Olson, airline director of operations. The plane went out of the radar and lost radio contact with air traffic control and the airline around 10 pm. 15.20, about 10 minutes before it was scheduled to arrive in Nome, he said.

A pilot and nine passengers were on board, Mr. Olson and added that their names would not be released immediately. Bering Air’s caravans can carry as many as nine passengers, according to airline.

When its position was lost, the plane was 12 miles offshore, the US coastguard said in a statement. The aircraft was later reported too late, Alaska State Troopers saidWhich means it had not reached the airport 30 minutes past its estimated arrival time. The Federal Aviation Administration said it issued a search-and-rescue warning at about 1 p.m. 15.20

Search crews and flights from the Coast Guard, National Guard and US Air Force worked to find the plane, Nome Volunteer Fire Department said in a statement.

The Nome Police Department had previously asked members of the community with boats to help with the search. The said Later, it had received sufficient offer of help. The fire department said the weather conditions seemed in the area poor and warned the residents not to form their own search parties.

Before the plane disappeared, its pilot told air traffic control in Anchorage that he intended to get into a holding pattern while waiting for the Nome runway to be cleared, according to the fire department.

Alaska’s transport department said the Nome Airport runway that the aircraft had approached, had remained open throughout Thursday. Maintenance crews had diverted the runway as there were no aircraft near it, said Danielle Tessen, a spokeswoman for the department, who runs the runway.

The weather conditions in the region between Unalakleet and Nome included snow, fog and low temperatures, she added.

More than 80 percent of communities in Alaska are inaccessible by road, according to the transport department. Air connections, especially those provided by regional carriers such as Bering Air, are important for getting supplies such as fuel and food.

Bering Air is based in Nome, with Hubs in Kotzebue and Unalakleet, and drives aircraft to 32 more communities, according to Its website. Nome is home to about 3,500 people and Unalakleet around 800.

National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement that it monitored the situation. Federal Aviation Administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This is an evolving story.