The wreckage of the plane was found approximately 34 miles southeast of Nome, and three people were found dead inside, the maritime military branch said.
Seven others who were on the plane "are believed to be inside the aircraft, which was inaccessible due to the condition of the plane," the Coast Guard said.
"The Coast Guard determined the severity of the wreckage was beyond the possibility of survival," it said.
The Bering Air Cessna Caravan took off Thursday from Unalakleet, on the east coast of Norton Sound in western Alaska, and was headed to Nome around 140 miles away, officials said.
There were nine passengers and one pilot aboard.
The flight took off from Unalakleet at 2:37 p.m. Thursday, Bering Air Director of Operations David Olson told NBC affiliate KTUU of Anchorage.
Radar analysis showed that around 3:18 p.m. Thursday "this aircraft experienced some kind of event which caused them to experience a rapid loss in elevation and a rapid loss in speed," Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Benjamin McIntyre-Coble said at a news briefing earlier Friday.
After the wreckage was found Friday, two Coast Guard swimmers were lowered by helicopter, where they found the three dead people in the forward part of the aircraft, the Coast Guard said.
The Coast Guard in a post on X expressed its "heartfelt condolences are with those affected by this tragic incident."
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy said Friday that he and his wife, Rose, "are heartbroken by the loss of the 10 people on the Bering Air flight."
"Our prayers are with the families, friends, and communities mourning this tragedy," Dunleavy said in a statement.
The Nome Volunteer Fire Department said its search and rescue team was activating for the recovery effort, with assistance from the Alaska National Guard.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it is launching a team to investigate the crash.
Nome and Unalakleet are not serviced by the state's highway system, leaving air and water or snowmobile and trails the main forms of transport between the two.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said Friday that "my heart is broken over the news out of Nome."
"Alaska is a big small town. When tragedy strikes, we're never far removed from the Alaskans directly impacted. But that also means we come together as a community to grieve and heal," she said. She thanked all those who responded and braved the elements to search for the plane.
Reader Comments
And yes crashing is not fun. When I was working on my commercial license with an instructor doing forced landing procedures over Langley farm fields in the 80's we put a Cessna 152 through a set of power lines, the plane crashed, and we both walked away. I happened to have my Nikon camera and got pics of the ultra rare event.
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I'm sure there are more from around the world. What's going on? I am hard pressed to blame this on DEI initiatives given the global scale.
Just thinking, FAA and how many will be shown the door there.
I sure would like to know what all the black boxes were recording before those events.
I wonder who of importance was on that jet? I have a hard time believing the U.S. did it just to kill some Russian figure skaters.
other infrequent times it's malicious stuff, e.g. PanAm Lockerbie, TWA 800, 911, the recent Korean 737 (flight recorders suddenly stopped working just before the crash - yeah right !),
and then there's the x-files stuff e.g. Malaysian Flight, and the five Avengers of flight 19.
i get the drift of what you're intimating, yet sometimes things happen.
pilot was experienced though likely flying vfr - there were whiteout conditions in Nome.
from the site photos it looks like a low veloicty shallow angle impact - notice the absence of fire (did he have fuel issues ?)
other ?'s come to my mind first, such as - was the Cessna overloaded (did it stall) ?
- engine maintenance logs
- airframe logs
- cargo weight & contents ?
: )