All 10 people aboard a small plane that went missing and was later discovered crashed in Alaska have been confirmed dead. Officials have said the Bering Air Cessna Caravan took off from Unalakleet, on the east coast of Norton Sound in western Alaska, and was headed to Nome around 140 miles away.
According to Alaska State Troopers, the bodies of nine passengers and one pilot who died in the Bering Air caravan crash in Alaska on Thursday have now been recovered from the wreckage, with the Alaska Department of Public Safety sharing in a statement that they have positively identified all the victims on the plane after they were recovered and brought to Nome.
The dead were identified as pilot Chad Antill, 34, of Nome; Liane Ryan, 52, of Wasilla; Donnell Erickson, 58, of Nome; Andrew Gonzalez, 30, of Wasilla; Kameron Hartvigson, 41, of Anchorage; Rhone Baumgartner, 46, of Anchorage; Jadee Moncur, 52, of Eagle River; Ian Hofmann, 45, of Anchorage; Talaluk Katchatag, 34, of Unalakleet; and Carol Mooers, 48; of Unalakleet.
National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said at a news conference that the NTSB — which was investigating the crash — and responding agencies would work on recovering the wreckage. The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium said in a statement that two of its employees — Rhone Baumgartner and Kameron Hartvigson — died in the crash. The company said the pair had traveled to Unalakleet “to service a heat recovery system that is critical to the community’s water plant.”
Bering Air Director of Operations David Olson told NBC affiliate KTUU of Anchorage that the plane took off at 2:37 p.m. Thursday. Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Benjamin McIntyre-Coble said at a news briefing that at around 3:18 p.m., radar analysis showed “this aircraft experienced some kind of event which caused them to experience a rapid loss in elevation and a rapid loss in speed. The wreckage was found about 34 miles southeast of Nome, according to the U.S. Coast Guard said.
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