All 10 victims recovered from Alaska plane wreckage have been identified
All 10 victims that were aboard an aircraft that went missing near Nome, Alaska, on Thursday have been recovered, the city's fire department said.
Three of the victims had been found Friday in the wreckage of Bering Air Flight 445 that is on an ice floe. Crews recovered the remaining seven victims Saturday, the Nome Volunteer Fire Department reported.
Alaska State Troopers later identified the pilot as 34-year-old Chad Antill of Nome. The passengers were also identified Saturday night as:
- 52-year-old Liane Ryan of Wasilla
- 58-year-old Donnell Erickson of Nome
- 30-year-old Andrew Gonzalez of Wasilla
- 41-year-old Kameron Hartvigson of Anchorage
- 46-year-old Rhone Baumgartner of Anchorage
- 52-year-old Jadee Moncur of Eagle River
- 45-year-old Ian Hofmann of Anchorage
- 34-year-old Talaluk Katchatag of Unalakleet
- 48-year-old Carol Mooers of Unalakleet
After being brought to Nome, their remains were in the process of being transported to the Alaska State Medical Examiner's Office in Anchorage for autopsies, state troopers said.
Victim recovery was the National Transportation Safety Board's primary focus, and now crews will work to recover the Caravan's wreckage.
The crash site is moving approximately 5 miles a day, NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said at a news conference on Saturday. She added that the area where the Cessna 208 Caravan went down is also expecting some snow, which was expected to hinder recovery operation.
"The NTSB knows that villages like Nome and Alaska aviation are tight-knit communities, so this tragedy affects so many," Homendy said. "Please know that we will work diligently to determine how this happened with the ultimate goal of improving safety here in Alaska and across the United States."
Investigators told CBS News transportation correspondent Kris Van Cleave on Saturday that the aircraft is not equipped with voice or data recorders as it is not a requirement. Following victim recovery, authorities will search for other avionic components that store electronic data which may help paint a clearer picture of what led to the crash.
The Bering Air Caravan that initially went missing on Feb. 6 on its way to Nome experienced a rapid loss in altitude and speed, prompting the Coast Guard to launch a search and rescue operation, officials said earlier.
It was the third major U.S. aviation incident in eight days. An American Eagle flight and Army Black Hawk helicopter collided and plunged into the Potomac River near Washington, D.C., on Jan. 29, killing all 67 people on the two aircraft. A medical transportation plane crashed in Philadelphia on Jan. 31, killing the six people on board and one more on the ground.