1 of 2 | The U.S. Coast Guard said there are no signs of survivors of 10 people aboard a plane that crashed in Alaska. Photo courtesy U.S. Coast Guard/X
Feb. 7 (UPI) -- The bodies of 10 people killed in a plane crash were recovered and identified Saturday after the small commuter aircraft was found Friday night.
The Coast Guard in Alaska said it ended its search after the missing Cessna Caravan turboprop was found approximately 34 miles southeast of Noma. Three victims initially were found dead at the crash site, and the other seven bodies were later recovered.
"All ten individuals aboard the Bering Air plane have been officially brought home to Nome," the Nome Volunteer Fire Department posted on Facebook.
Jim West, chief of the Nome Volunteer Fire Department, said at a news conference Friday night that it is a difficult process to move the victims.
"We don't know how long that's going to take. It could go hours; it could go potentially days. Coming up to tomorrow we have 18 hours of potential recovery time," West said.
"The conditions out there are dynamic, so we've got to do it safely and the fastest we can."
A winter weather advisory, with blowing snow and wind gusts as high as 45 mph, remains in effect until 9 p.m. Sunday, the National Weather Service announced.
Alaska State Troopers said in a statement that they were contacted about the overdue aircraft at 4 p.m. AST Thursday, stating the Bering Air Caravan plane had gone missing while en route from Unalakleet to Nome.
U.S. Coast Guard Alaska said in a statement the plane was flying 12 miles offshore en route to Nome when its position was lost.
The aircraft "experienced some kind of event which caused them to experience a rapid loss in elevation and a rapid loss in speed" around 3:18 p.m. Thursday, Coast Guard Lt. Commander Benjamin McIntyre-Coble said.
A HC-130 Hercules airplane crew from Air Station Kodiak was deployed to the plane's last known location, the Coast Guard said.
Nome, with a population of 3,639, is about 55 miles from the Russian border.
Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, earlier expressed sorrow at the incident.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the passengers, their families and the rescue crew," he said.
The deceased included two employees from Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, Rhone Baumgartner and Kameron Hartvigson, who traveled to Unalakleet "to service a heat recovery system that is critical to the community's water plant," the nonprofit said Friday night.
Besides Baumgartner, 46, and Hartvigson, 41, the other dead were the pilot, Chad Antill, 34; Liane Ryan, 52; Donnell Erickson, 58; Andrew Gonzalez, 30; Jadee Moncur, 52; Ian Hofmann, 45; Talaluk Katchatag, 34; and Carol Mooers, 48.
