The crews rush to recover the suburban plane found escaped on the Alaska sea ice before the snow and the wind expected

Juneau, Alaska (AP) – Only a few hours after finding 10 dead in western Alaska de one of the deadliest The plane crashed in the state in 25 years, the authorities have run to recover their remains and the wreck of the small suburban plane from unstable sea ice before the high winds and the snow expected.

“The conditions are dynamic, so we must do it safely in the fastest way as possible,” Jim West, head of the Nome voluntary fire department on Friday.

Bering Air’s single-engine turbopropulse was deployed from Unalakleet to the Nome Hub community when it disappeared Thursday afternoon. It was found the next day after in -depth research with the nine passengers and the dead pilot.

While the community was trying to treat the fatal event, the crews worked quickly on an unstable slush sea ice to recover the bodies and the wreck with less than a day before bad weather. Officials said that a Black Hawk helicopter would be used to move the plane once the bodies are removed.

Among the killed in the accident, there was the Rhône Baumgartner and Kameron Hartvigson. They went to Unalakleet to serve an essential heat recovery system at the community’s water plant, according to the native tribal health consortium in Alaska.

“These two members of our team lost their lives by serving the others,” said David Beverridge, vice-president of environmental health and organizational engineering in a statement. “The loss of these two incredible individuals and everyone aboard the plane will be felt throughout Alaska.”

The names of others have not been published.

The 10 people aboard the plane were adults, and the flight was a regularly scheduled suburban trip, according to Lieutenant Ben Endres of Alaska state soldiers.

A photo provided by the Coast Guard has shown the body and the broken debris of the elongated plane on sea ice. Two people in emergency equipment in bright colors surrounded the wreck.

“It is difficult to accept the reality of our loss,” said American senator Lisa Murkowski at an evening press conference.

The mayor of Nome, John Handeland, suffocated by discussing death and the effort of response.

“Nome is a strong community, and in difficult times, we meet and we support each other. I expect the outpouring support to continue in the coming days while we are all working to recover from this tragic incident, “said Haneland.

Cessna’s caravan left Unalakleet at 2:37 p.m. Thursday, and officials lost contact with her less than an hour later, according to David Olson, director of operations at Bering Air. There was light snow and fog, with a temperature of 17 degrees (minus 8.3 Celsius), according to the National Weather Service.

The Coast Guard said that the plane had disappeared at around 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Nome.

The radar medico-legal data provided by the US Civil Air Patrol indicated that around 3:18 p.m., the plane had “a kind of event which made them undergo a rapid elevation loss and a rapid speed loss “, Lieutenant-colonel CMDR. Benjamin McIntyre-Coble said. “What is this event, I can’t speculate.”

McIntyre-Coble said he was not aware of the plane distress signals. The planes transport an emergency location transmitter. If it is exposed to sea water, the device sends a signal to a satellite, which then relays this message to the coastal guard to indicate an aircraft can be in distress. None of such messages have been received by the Coast Guard, he said.

The rescuers sought the last known location of the plane by the helicopter when the wreckage was spotted, said Mike Salerno, spokesperson for the American Coast Guard. Two rescue swimmers were lowered to investigate.

Local, state and federal agencies had helped the research effort, painting water stretching at the ice and traveling kilometers of frozen tundra.

The National Transportation Safety Board sent nine people to the scene of various states.

Theft is an essential mode of transport in Alaska due to the immensity of the landscape and limited infrastructure. Most communities are not linked to the developed road system which serves the most populous region of the state, and it is common to travel by small plane.

Some high school teams go to sporting events against rival secondary schools, and goods are brought to many communities by Barge or by plane.

The plane accident marks The third major of American aviation misadventure in eight days. A commercial jetliner and an army helicopter collided near the national capital January 29, kill 67 people. A The medical transport aircraft crashed In Philadelphia on January 31, killing the six people on board and another person on the ground.

Béring Air serves 32 villages in the west of Alaska from Hubs in Nome, Kotzebue and Unalakleet. Most destinations receive scheduled flights twice a day from Monday to Saturday.

Unalakleet is a community of approximately 690 people at around 150 miles (approximately 240 kilometers) southeast of Nome and 395 miles (approximately 640 kilometers) northwest of anchorage. The village is on the Iditarod path, itinerary of the most famous sled dog race, during which Mushers and their teams must cross the frozen Norton sound.

Nome, a city of gold rush, is just south of the Arctic circle and is known as the end of the Iditarod of 1,000 miles (1,610 kilometers). The city said the prayer watches would take place on Friday for people aboard the plane, friends and family and people involved in research efforts.

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Golden reported in Seattle. Martha Bellisle in Seattle and Lisa Baumann in Bellingham, Washington, contributed to this report.