A search for a missing plane carrying 10 people is under way in Alaska.
The Bering Air flight left Unalakleet at 2.37pm on Thursday, heading for Nome, but contact was lost less than an hour later, said operations director David Olson.
Officials are trying to work out its last known position but the US Coast Guard said the Cessna Caravan was 12 miles offshore as it flew across Norton Sound.
Unalakleet is a community of about 690 in western Alaska, about 150 miles southeast of Nome and 395 miles northwest of Anchorage.
In a post on Facebook, Nome’s fire department said: “We are currently doing an active ground search from Nome and from White Mountain.”
It added: “We ask the public to please think of those who may be missing at this time, but due to weather and safety concerns please do not form individual search parties.”
Weather in Unalakleet at take-off time was -8.3C (17F) with fog and light snow, said the US National Weather Service.
The intended destination, Nome, is a gold rush town just south of the Arctic Circle. The flight time is normally just under an hour.
Bering Air serves 32 villages in western Alaska and air travel is often the only option of travelling long distances in rural parts of the US state, especially in winter.
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Content Source: news.sky.com