Remains of all 10 victims killed in Alaska plane crash identified

Authorities have identified the 10 people – a pilot and nine passengers – who were killed on a small aircraft that initially went missing before crashing on sea ice off the western coast of Alaska this week.

The bodies of the victims aboard the doomed Bering Air Flight were discovered Friday along with the plane’s wreckage by rescues crews who scoured the aircraft’s last known location before vanishing on Thursday, according to Alaska Department of Public Safety.

The pilot was identified as Chad Antill, 34, of Nome, police said.

Wasilla residents Liane Ryan, 52, and Andrew Gonzalez, 30, were identified as passengers, in addition to Anchorage locals Kameron Hartvigson, 41, Ian Hofman, 45, and Rhone Baumgartner, 46.

The remaining passengers include Donnell Erickson, 58, of Nome; Jadee Moncur, 52, of Eagle River; and Unalakleet residents Talaluk Katchatag, 34, and Carol Mooeres, 48, authorities said.

The bodies will be transported to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Anchorage for autopsies, officials said, noting that next of kin’s have been notified.

Baumgartner and Hartvigson both worked in utilities operations for the Alaska Native Tribal Heath Consortium and were on a work trip when they boarded the flight, the organization confirmed Saturday morning.

The Cessna Caravan left Unalakleet around 2:37 p.m. Thursday and was headed for Nome, about 150 miles away, but lost contact with officials less than an hour later.

Officials on Friday said the single-engine plane — which was at max capacity — experience a “rapid loss” in elevation and speed roughly 12 miles offshore around 3:18 p.m.

Local, state and federal agencies aided in the search effort, later finding the the wreckage in the frigid slushy waters just 34 miles southwest of its destination.

The Alaskan crash third major fatal aviation crash to make headlines over a stretch of eight days.

An American Airlines flight collided with an Army Black Hawk near Reagan National Airport in Virginia on Jan. 29, killing all 67 people onboard both aircrafts.

Two days later, a medevac jet crashed in Philadelphia, Pa., killing all six people on the flight in addition to a person on the ground.