UPDATE: USCG is reporting that the wreckage of the Bering Air Caravan has been located 34 miles out of Nome. In the wreckage the remains of three were found, thers have yet to be found.

ORIGINAL:The search continues today for the Bering Air Caravan that went missing after leaving the Unalakleet airstrip at 2:37 pm on Thursday afternoon.

The aircraft, heading to Nome transmitted its last data at 3:16 pm while flying over Norton Sound. Alaska Rescue Coordination Center contacted Alaska State Troopers at approximately 4 pm and informed them of the incident. An officer with the U.S. Coast Guard’s Office of Incident Management, said, data showed the aircraft experienced “a rapid loss in elevation and a rapid loss in speed,” prior to disappearing from radar.

Reports say that “The pilot of the plane told Anchorage Air Traffic Control that he intended to enter a holding pattern while waiting for the runway to be clear.”

Aboard were the pilot and nine passengers.

The search immediately began but weather and visibility restricted the air search. 

Because the sea ice terrain was “kind of jumbled” said the White Mountain fire chief, Jack Adams, said, ground-based search teams are searching from the Iditarod trail along a 30-mile stretch hoping the craft came down on land as opposed to the frigid waters of Norton Sound.

By this morning the USCG had taken over the lead in the search efforts and also launched a MH-60 Jayhawk from Cold Bay and other aircraft to search the area between Unalakleet and Nome. Also involved in the search are Alaska Air National Guard, Alaska Army National Guard, and Alaska State Troopers personnel and assets, they are joined by local search teams.

The Air Force resumed its search efforts after the National Guard concluded theirs.Several aircraft of various types are combing the area.

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