A commercial flight carrying 10 passengers has been reported missing after flying over Alaska.
Alaska State Police stated that a Bering Air Caravan, with nine passengers and one pilot on board, was reported overdue on its scheduled flight from Unalakleet to Nome, per News.com.au.
The flight was expected to arrive at 4:00PM Alaska Standard Time on Thursday but failed to reach its destination.
The two cities are approximately 235 kilometers apart, separated by the Norton Sound.
Search and rescue teams have been deployed and are currently working to reach the aircraft’s last known coordinates, authorities said in an official statement.
The Nome Volunteer Fire Department indicated that adverse weather conditions and poor visibility may have played a role in the aircraft’s disappearance.
“We are currently doing an active ground search from Nome and from White Mountain and have as much up-to-date information on the event as possible,” the fire department stated in a Facebook post.
Efforts to locate the missing aircraft involve multiple agencies, including the Alaska National Guard and the U.S. Coast Guard.
Emergency medical personnel with the Norton Sound Health Corporation remain on standby to provide immediate aid if the aircraft is located.
Meanwhile, officials have urged civilians to refrain from conducting independent search missions due to severe weather conditions, warning that such efforts could put additional lives at risk, per Anchorage Daily News.
This is another story in what feels like a string of recent aviation disasters.
American Airlines flight 5342 tragically crashed into a military helicopter and claimed the lives of 67 people on January 29.
Then on January 31, an air ambulance plummeted from the sky shortly after takeoff from Northeast Philadelphia Airport at 6.06 PM local time, heading to Springfield-Branson National Airport in Missouri, before continuing on to Mexico to return an 11-year-old patient and her mother.
The Learjet 55 had only been airborne for less than a minute before the disaster, which killed all six people on board and one person on the ground.
The victims on board the plane were named as Valentina Guzman Murillo, 11; her mother, Lizeth Murillo Ozuna, 31; Capt. Alan Alejandro Montoya Perales; co-pilot Josue de Jesus Juarez Juarez; Dr. Raul Meza Arredondo; and paramedic Rodrigo Lopez Padilla, while the victim who lost their life on the ground has yet to be publicly identified.
Valentina had been on her way back to Tijuana after having had life-saving treatment at Shriners Children’s Hospital for complications from spinal bifida including pressure sores.
Susan Marie Fasino, who'd helped the "very frail" young girl, wrote on Facebook: "The plan was to bring them home to live out the rest of her life surrounded with love and with her adoring family.
"Her mother was one of the most adoring attentive mothers a child could ever have. She literally never left her side."
Shriners spokesperson Mel Bower added that those who'd treated Valentina were also deeply affected by the tragic news, saying: "It’s extremely hard and extremely difficult, those that were involved directly in her care were very aware that she was going to be traveling home and there had actually been a sendoff for her today."