CNN
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Recovery teams worked in the midst of icy temperatures and muddy sea ice on Friday to recover the bodies of the remaining victims that were aboard a flight from a regional airline that crashed off the western coast of Alaska.
The small aircraft that transported nine passengers and a pilot took off from Unalakleet on Thursday afternoon before disappearing. The plane was found late Friday, about 55 kilometers southeast of Nome, the planned fate of the flight, according to the United States Coast Guard. The 10 people on board were declared dead.
Currently the remains rest on sea ice that officials said it is young and unstable, and what is added that strong snowfall and winds are expected in the area this weekend. First the bodies will be recovered, then the plane will be taken for a more detailed analysis of what happened, the officials said.
The swimmers are “on the ice while we talked,” said Jim West, head of the Nome Volunteer Fire Department, at a press conference on Friday night, in which he added that the objective of the recovery operation was to untangle the remains and “bring people home”, although the deadlines are not clear.
“We don’t know how long that will take. They could be hours; Potentially, days. Until tomorrow we have 18 hours of potential recovery time, ”said West, citing the changing conditions of the accident site and incoming climate.
A winter climate notice is in force until 9 pm on Sunday (local time), so snowy, rains and mixed rainfall in Nome and other parts of western Alaska, announced the National Meteorological Service.
Some areas may experience up to 13 centimeters of snow, with ice accumulations, said the NWS. Wind bursts will also be recorded up to 72 kmh.
“The conditions are dynamic, so we must do it safely and as quickly as we can,” he added.
Researchers are working to determine the cause of the accident and how the aircraft suddenly lost height and speed. The analysis of air traffic control data will be key to the investigation of the National Transportation Security Board (NTSB), officials said.
“We are in the preliminary stages of the investigation,” said Clint Johnson, head of the NTSB Regional Office of the NTSB to journalists on Friday, adding that one of the agency’s researchers is in place with the Coast Guard.
“Now that the remains have been found with 10 fatalities, it is time for us to rise and start working.”
The Cessna aircraft, operated by Bering Air, was about 19 kilometers from the coast when its position was lost, according to the Coast Guard.
The aircraft “experienced some type of event that made it experience a rapid loss of height and rapid speed loss” around 3:18 pm on Thursday, said Lieutenant Coast Guard, Benjamin McIntyre-Coble.
The search for the aircraft had been complicated by multiple factors, including bad weather and the fact that the missing plane had not communicated its position through an emergency transmitter, authorities said.
But visibility was better for search engines on Friday morning: the sky was clear at Nome airport around 10 am, with temperatures around -15 ° C. The National Guard and the Coast Guard added helicopter search equipment on Friday morning, while another C-130 of the Coast Guard landed in Nome to collaborate, said the fire department.
In a vigil organized by the city of Nome on Friday, Amanda Snyder, pastor of the Lutheran Church our Savior, urged the attendees to support each other.
“Please, don’t be isolated into their pain. In the next few days, in the coming weeks, when we begin to hear which families were affected, our hearts will break again and again, and it is fine crying and lamenting, but please do not be a isolated, ”said Snyder.
“The words are not enough to express the loss we all feel, we are all connected in many ways,” said Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, who joined the vigil by videoconference. “It’s hard to accept the reality of our loss.”
It is not unusual for Alaska inhabitants to travel between places in small airplanes due to the vast landscape and the lack of available transport infrastructure.
“It’s simply heartbreaking. Because each of the people in this room has been in one of those planes, ”Snyder told The Nome Nugget, the local local newspaper. “This touches us closely.”
Among the deceased are two employees of the Native Tribal Health Consortium of Alask Said the non -profit organization on Friday night.
“Rhone Baumgartner and Kameron Hartvigson were passionate about the work they did, they worried deep , in a statement.
“They were the best in what they did and had just fly to Unalakleet to help address mechanical and heating problems in the middle of winter. They made the maximum sacrifice for the people we serve in the work we do. ”
Sarah Dewberry, Emma Tucker, Rebekah Rams, Chimaine Pouteau and Jeremy Harlan de CNN contributed to this report.
(tagstotranslate) Alaska
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