Search personnel in Alaska are trying to establish the location of a Textron Aviation Cessna 208 Caravan with 10 occupants which was declared overdue while operating to Nome on the Bering Sea coast.
The Bering Air aircraft was transporting nine passengers, with a single pilot, according to Alaska State Troopers.
Alaska State Troopers was contacted about the missing flight by Alaska Rescue Co-ordination Center on 6 February at 16:00.
The aircraft had departed Unalakleet, a coastal town which lies about 125nm to the east of Nome.
Alaska State Troopers says it is working with the US Coast Guard, as well as the Alaska Air National Guard, to establish the last known co-ordinates of the Caravan.
“Search crews are actively looking for this aircraft amid challenging conditions,” it adds.
The Coast Guard says the aircraft was about 10nm (18km) offshore when its position was lost.
While a Lockheed Martin HC-130 crew from Air Station Kodiak has been searching the area between Nome and White Mountain – the two locations are about 50nm apart – the Coast Guard says this had “negative results”.
It states that a Coast Guard Sikorsky MH-60 Jayhawk, operating out of Cold Bay in the Aleutian Islands, has joined the search.
Unconfirmed indications suggest the missing Caravan is N321BA which, according to the US FAA, is a 2020 airframe.
Bering Air operates a network of scheduled and charter services in western Alaska, flying out of Unalakleet, Nome and Kotzebue to several small communities.
