10 killed in Alaska plane crash, third major US aviation accident in a week

Shafaq News/ US authorities have located, on Friday, the wreckage of a small passenger plane that crashed in western Alaska.

According to the Alaska Department of Public Safety, the single-engine turboprop aircraft, operated by Bering Air, was traveling from Unalakleet to Nome on Thursday afternoon when it disappeared. All 10 people on board, including nine passengers and the pilot, were killed.

David Olson, Bering Air’s director of operations, said the Cessna Caravan departed Unalakleet at 2:37 p.m. local time. Officials lost contact with the aircraft less than an hour later.

“This is a devastating loss for our community," Olson said. "Our hearts go out to the families of those on board."

This crash is the third major aviation accident in the US within eight days. On January 29, a commercial airliner collided with a military helicopter near Washington, D.C., killing 67 people. Two days later, an air ambulance crashed in Philadelphia, resulting in the deaths of six people on board and one person on the ground.