Missing Alaska plane found

The U.S. Coast Guard in Alaska said Friday afternoon it had located an aircraft matching the description of the Nome-bound plane that disappeared after takeoff with 10 people on board.

Authorities indicated that all 10 people on board died. According to Lt. Ben Endres of the Alaska State Police, the people on board were adults and the flight was scheduled for a commuter flight.

Mike Salerno, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman, said rescue crews were searching for the aircraft's last known location by helicopter when they spotted the wreckage, and two rescue swimmers descended to investigate.

According to the Alaska Department of Public Safety, the Bering Air single-engine turboprop aircraft was traveling from Unalakleet Thursday afternoon with nine passengers and a pilot.

This accident adds to a string of airplane incidents in the United States. On Jan. 30, the collision between a military helicopter and a passenger jet killed 67 people.

Two days later, the crash of a medical plane in a busy Philadelphia neighborhood killed seven people, six of them Mexican, and injured 19 others.