Search Underway for Missing Plane Carrying 10 People in Western Alaska

Rescue teams have launched an intensive search in western Alaska after a plane carrying 10 people went missing on Thursday afternoon. The Bering Air Caravan, with a pilot and nine passengers onboard, was en route from Unalakleet to Nome when it disappeared over the Norton Sound, south of the Arctic Circle.

Authorities are working to pinpoint the aircraft’s last known coordinates. Unalakleet, a small community of around 690 people, is located about 150 miles southeast of Nome and 395 miles northwest of Anchorage. This incident marks the third major aviation disaster in the U.S. in just eight days, following the deadly collision of a commercial jetliner and an Army helicopter on Jan. 29, and a medical plane crash in Philadelphia on Jan. 31.