A desperate search is underway Friday in Alaska for a plane carrying 10 people that vanished Thursday afternoon.
The flight, operated by Bering Air, was traveling from Unalakleet to Nome in Western Alaska, when its position was lost about 12 miles offshore, according to the U.
Coast Guard. The Coast Guard added that its last known position was transponded Thursday evening approximately 30 miles southeast of Nome. During a Friday news conference, the Coast Guard said that data showed a "rapid loss in elevation and rapid loss in speed" for the aircraft at p. The Coast Guard also said that an "item of interest" had been found, and an aircraft was flying over it to determine what it was.
Officials at the news conference added that all passengers on the plane are adults, and it was a regularly scheduled flight. Coast Guard currently leading the search and rescue efforts. The FBI is ready to augment local, state, and federal resources if the situation develops that requires additional specialized capabilities. We remain in close contact with our local, state, and federal partners. Thursday night, it wrote on Facebook that "the pilot of the plane told Anchorage Air Traffic Control that he intended to enter a holding pattern while waiting for the runway to be cleared" in Nome.
The department said Friday that aerial searches carried out by C Hercules planes from the National Guard and Air Force resulted in "no sightings" and that "all families of passengers on the missing flight have been notified.
