10 killed as plane crashes in US again

A small commuter plane carrying 10 people across Alaska’s Norton Sound that crashed in western Alaska has been found, the US Coast Guard posted on social media on Friday afternoon. All 10 people who were on the plane died.

The plane was found about 34 miles (54km) south-east of Nome, the Coast Guard said. Mike Salerno, a spokesperson for the Coast Guard, said rescuers were searching the aircraft’s last known location by helicopter when they spotted the wreckage. They lowered two rescue swimmers to investigate, AP reported.

The Bering Air Caravan, a single-engine turboprop, was heading from Unalakleet to Nome on Thursday afternoon with nine passengers and a pilot, according to Alaska’s department of public safety.

The Cessna Caravan left Unalakleet at 2.37pm local time, and officials lost contact with it less than an hour later, according to David Olson, director of operations for Bering Air. The aircraft was 12 miles offshore, the Coast Guard said. It was operating at its maximum passenger capacity, according to the airline’s description of the plane.

The plane was last seen over Norton Sound around 3.16pm local time, according to data from flight tracker FlightRadar 24.

Data provided by the US civil air patrol indicated that about 3.18pm local time, the plane had “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. “What that event is, I can’t speculate to.”

The disappearance marks the third major incident in US aviation in eight days. A commercial jetliner and an army helicopter collided near the nation’s capital on 29 January, killing 67 people. A medical transportation plane crashed in Philadelphia on 31 January, killing the six people onboard and another person on the ground.