Missing plane Alaska updates: Bering Air flight disappears with 10 onboard

A desperate search is ongoing to find a plane containing nine passengers and a pilot, as teams face almost white-out conditions. The alarm was raised overnight when the Bering Air flight was overdue at its final destination in Nome, in Alaska, from Unalakleet in the same state. An urgent search was raised to discover its last known whereabouts, but attempts have so far been hampered by terrible search conditions in the area at the time.

Earlier, the Nome Volunteer Fire Department said in a statement: "We are currently responding to a report of a missing Bering Air caravan. We are doing an active ground search from Nome and from White Mountain. “Due to weather and visibility, we are limited on air search at the current time. National Guard and Coast Guard and Troopers have been notified and are active in the search. Norton Sound Health Corporation is standing by.".

Follow our live blog below for updates on the missing plane. The pilot of the missing plane was speaking with air traffic control moments before the Bering plane disappeared. According to reports, he told them he was entering a holding pattern while waiting for a runway to clear at Nome Airport. The region was being hit with severe weather during this time. Officials said the aircraft's last known coordinates were 12 miles off the coast.

Dubbed the 'Bermuda Triangle of Alaska', the Alaskan Triangle is a hotspot for unexplained phenomena, including strange disappearances, UFO sightings and even paranormal activity. In 1972, House Majority Leader Hale Boggs and Congressman Nick Begich vanished while flying from Anchorage to Juneau. Despite a major search and rescue mission, no bodies - or even a wreckage has ever been found. In another case, a 25-year-old New Yorker Gary Frank Sotherden, went to the Alaskan wilderness in the mid-1970s for a hunting trip and never returned. It wasn't until 1997 that a human skull was discovered along the Porcupine River in northeastern Alaska. DNA testing in 2022 confirmed that the skull belonged to Sotherden, with the likely cause of death being a bear mauling.

More recently, in June 2019, Shanna Oman, 43, was visiting a friend in Fairbanks when she disappeared. She didn’t show up for the lift she’d arranged with a friend and never returned home. Canine units and helicopters were used in a search lasting several days, but she was never found. The plane has reportedly vanished near to the infamous 'Alaska Triangle' - where a number of aircrafts have crashed.

An estimated 20,000 people have gone missing from the area, which stretches from Utqiagvik to Anchorage to Juneau, since 1970. There has been a total of 2,257 aircraft crashes in Alaska state - an average of 112 per year. Rescuers are said to be searching open waters after the Cessna aircraft, operated by Bering Air, went missing. On Facebook, the Nome Volunteer Fire Department said it was conducting ground searches from Nome and White Mountain. It added that it's limiting its air searches due to poor weather.

More from White Mountain Fire Chief Jack Adams, who gave an update earlier about the search and rescue operation. Mr Adams said his search team remained optimistic that the plane would be found on land, adding: "Being in the water would be the worst-case scenario.". Speaking last night, White Mountain Fire Chief Jack Adams said his crew were searching a 30-mile stretch of the Alaskan coast. He told reporters: “They’re prepared to be out all night, they will search here until they find them or somebody else finds them. If they don’t find anything, we’ll probably rally another crew to go and help.”.

Their task has been made more difficult by "jumbled" sea ice, Mr Adams added. David Olson, director of operations for Bering Air, has confirmed officials lost contact with the Cessna Caravan an hour after it left Unalakleet. He told Wimbledon Times: “Staff at Bering Air are working hard to gather details, get emergency assistance, search and rescue going.”. The sudden disappearance of the flight in Alaska is the third major incident to hit the US in just over a week.

On January 29, 67 people were killed in Washington DC when an American Airlines plane collided with a Black Hawk helicopter. Two days later a medical transportation plane crashed in Philadelphia. Six people on board were killed, as well as another on the ground. A senator for Alaska has sent his “thoughts and prayers” to those aboard the missing plane in his state. Dan Sullivan told his 700,000 followers on X: “We are hearing reports of a possible missing plane en route to Nome.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the passengers, their families and the rescue crew.”. Volunteers searching for the missing plane have given an update on the search for the missing plane. The C-130 plane has found no search of the small plane or its nine passengers and pilot aboard and has now ran out of flight search time. The Nome Volunteer Fire Department says it will next update in around eight hours time - unless it is found before then.