Chartered plane crash in Alaska kills all 10 on board
PTC Web Desk: A chartered plane carrying 10 persons, nine passengers and a pilot, went missing on Thursday while en route from Unalakleet to Nome, Alaska. According to news agency ANI, all 10 persons onboard have been confirmed dead. The wreckage was discovered on Friday, approximately 54 km southeast of Nome Airport. The aircraft, operated by Bering Air, vanished from radar 39 minutes after takeoff.
Flight tracking data from FlightRadar revealed that the plane lost contact mid-flight, with Unalakleet and Nome being 235 km apart.
The Nome Volunteer Fire Department confirmed the fatalities, stating that three bodies have been identified while the remaining seven remain inside the wreckage. Rescue teams have been unable to recover them due to hazardous conditions. Families of the deceased have been notified.
Severe weather hampered search operations on Thursday, delaying the discovery of the wreckage. The authorities had earlier urged residents not to conduct independent searches due to safety risks posed by poor weather conditions.
Unalakleet, situated on Alaska’s western coast near the Norton Sound bay, has a population of around 690. Nome, also on the western coast, gained prominence during the 1890s gold rush and currently has over 3,500 residents.
The incident follows a series of recent aviation accidents in the United States. On January 29, a major air disaster in Washington, DC, claimed 67 lives when a passenger plane collided with a military helicopter, causing the wreckage to crash into the Potomac River. Both aircraft’s flight data recorders (black boxes) were recovered for investigation.
- With inputs from agencies
