Air Alert in the US: Ten Dead in Alaska in Fourth Aviation Accident in a Month

Ten people have died in a new aviation accident in the United States. Rescue teams have found the wreckage of an aircraft that was operating a regional route in Alaska. The plane was carrying nine passengers and a pilot. There were no survivors.

With these fatalities, the death toll has risen to over eighty in the four air disasters that have occurred in the United States since January 2nd. Federal authorities have not faced such a rapid succession of accidents in years. One of these incidents, the collision between a commercial jet and a military helicopter in Washington on the 29th, still has several unresolved questions despite the recovery of both aircrafts' remains. Authorities have extended precautionary measures and reduced the number of flights in the capital, with no certainties on how they collided in the air, resulting in 67 fatalities.

The Coast Guard found the fuselage of the missing plane on Thursday, 55 kilometers from Nome, which was its intended destination from Unalakleet, 235 kilometers away. The aircraft belonged to Bering Air, a regional air service that has been operating flights between 32 communities in northwest Alaska for 46 years. 80% of the populations in this region are inaccessible by land, and transportation of passengers and goods is conducted by air.

The flight disappeared from radar around three-thirty in the afternoon while completing its usual route across Norton Sound Bay. Its last position was about twenty kilometers from the coast, after forty minutes in the air. Authorities immediately launched a rescue operation with firefighters, police, and medical teams, although it was already suspected that there would be no survivors due to the presumed violence of the crash and the temperature in the area, which was below eight degrees Celsius with a slight blizzard.

The aircraft, a Cessna Caravan turboprop, vanished from screens, and Nome operators could not contact the pilot by radio. Authorities state that it "experienced some type of event that caused a rapid loss of altitude and speed." However, they could not specify the type of incident that caused the deceleration, although there is speculation about a possible engine failure. Weather conditions were not particularly adverse, considering the location is just south of the Arctic Circle.

The Coast Guard added a C-130 aircraft specialized in aerial searches after the ground operation, aided by helicopters, failed to locate the wreckage. The search yielded results on Friday night (early Saturday in Spain) when the completely destroyed Cessna was found in the snow. Rescuers managed to recover three bodies and were attempting to extract the other seven from the fuselage. All occupants were adults and died "instantly." The National Transportation Safety Board

The accident has caused great shock in the state. Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy has asked all citizens to "keep those affected in their prayers" and thanked the rescuers who "worked tirelessly to locate the plane." "We are in mourning," he concluded.

The National Transportation Safety Board has immediately begun investigating the accident. In a vast area where small plane travel is common and communities are small and closely-knit, air accidents cause particular dismay. The last similar incident occurred in 2013 in Soldotna, a city on the Kenai Peninsula with just 4,000 inhabitants. A small plane carrying nine people on a polar bear viewing expedition crashed shortly after takeoff due to what was certified as human error. The pilot miscalculated the weight of the passengers and cargo, and the aircraft failed to ascend. Several minors died in that incident.

Apparently, the deceased in this latest accident were known residents in Unalakleet, home to fewer than 700 people, and Nome, which has a census of 3,639 inhabitants and is internationally famous as the finish line for the world's most renowned dog sled race.