The 10 people aboard a small plane that disappeared and then discovered that it crashed in Alaska, have been confirmed dead, authorities said in a statement.
The Alaska Public Security Department said on Saturday that everyone aboard the plane, nine passengers and a pilot, died. The plane had been traveling from Unlakleet to Nome on Thursday when it disappeared. It was found starry on Friday.
Alaska state soldiers positively identified the 10 victims on the plane after they were recovered and brought to Nome, Alaska DPS said in a statement.
The dead were identified as a pilot Chad Antill, 34, of Nome; Liane Ryan, 52, from Wasilla; Donnell Erickson, 58, of Nome; Andrew González, 30, from Wasilla; Kameron Hartvigson, 41, from Anchorage; Rhone Baumgartner, 46, from Anchorage; Jadee Moncur, 52, of the Eagle River; Ian Hofmann, 45, from Anchorage; Talaluk Katchatag, 34, by Unalakleet; and Carol Mooers, 48; of Unalakleet.
At an earlier press conference on Saturday, the president of the National Board of Transportation Security Jennifer Homendy said the first priority of recovery efforts was to recover the victims. Then, the NTSB, which was investigating the accident, and the response agencies would work to recover the remains.
Three people were found dead within the plane’s remains on Friday, the United States Coast Guard said. The agency said at that time that the other seven that were on the plane “believed they were inside the plane, which was inaccessible due to the condition of the plane.”
“The Coast Guard determined that the severity of the remains was beyond the possibility of survival,” he said on Friday.
Alaska’s native tribal health consortium said in a statement that two of its employees, Baumgartner and Hartvigson, died in the accident. The company said the couple had traveled to Unalakleet “to attend a heat recovery system that is essential for the community of the community.”
The authorities have said that the Bering Air Cessna caravan took off from Unalakleet, on the east coast of Norton Sound in western Alaska, and headed to Nome about 140 miles away.
The plane took off at 2:37 PM on Thursday, Bering Air operations director David Olson, told the NBC Ktuu affiliate in Anchorage.
Around 3:18 pm, the radar analysis showed “This plane experienced some type of event that made them experience a rapid loss in elevation and rapid loss in speed,” the Lieutenant of the Coast Guard. Benjamin McIntyre-Coble said at a news conference on Friday.
The remains were found about 34 miles southeast of Nome, the Coast Guard said. The three bodies recovered on Friday were found in the front of the plane by two swimmers of the Coast Guard, said the agency.
The Nome Volunteer Fire Department, with Alaska National Guard assistance, said Friday that activated its search and rescue team for the recovery effort.
Nome and Unlakleet are not attended by the state road system. Air and water or snow motorcycle and trails are the main forms of transport between the two.
Alaska’s governor Mike Dunleavy said Friday that he and his wife, Rose, “are disconsolate by the loss of the 10 people on Bering Air flight” and said that “the prayers are with families, friends and communities that give to this tragedy. “
Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaaska, thanked all those who responded and challenged the elements to look for the plane, and said Friday that “my heart is broken by the news outside Nome.”
“Alaska is a big small city,” he said. “When the tragedy occurs, we never retired directly from Alaskanos. But that also means that we join as a community to cry and heal.”
