Authorities have now recovered and identified the remains of all 10 people who died this week when their Bering Air plane crashed in Alaska.
On Saturday, Feb. 8, the Alaska Department of Public Safety (DPS) announced that the National Transportation Safety Board, Alaska National Guard and Alaska State Troopers “conducted recovery efforts” at the crash site just two days after the aircraft went missing outside of Nome, Alaska.
“Two HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters, a Nome-based UH-60L Black Hawk, an HC -130J Combat King II and a team of pararescuemen worked to recover the victims,” the department said in a news release shared on its website. “The bodies have been recovered and brought to Nome, where they were positively identified by Alaska State Troopers.”
As of Saturday afternoon, the bodies of all 10 victims — whose relatives have already been notified of their deaths — were set to be transported to the State Medical Examiner’s Office for autopsies. The victims, all Alaska residents, were between the ages of 30 and 58.
They include utility operations employees and Anchorage residents Rhone Baumgartner, 46, and Kameron Hartvigson, 41, both of whose names were already identified by the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC).
Nome resident Chad Antill, 34, was identified as the aircraft’s pilot, and the other victims onboard were Liane Ryan, 52, and Andrew Gonzalez, 30, of Wasilla; Donnell Erickson, 58, of Nome; Jadee Moncur, 52, of Eagle River; Ian Hofmann, 45, of Anchorage; and 34-year-old Talaluk Katchatag and 48-year-old Carol Mooers, both of Unalakleet.
The Nome Volunteer Fire Department also updated the community on the recovery of remains on its Facebook page on Saturday, noting that victims had been “officially brought home” to Nome. “We thank the Airforce for their main role in the recovery efforts for the sake of our community team,” the department added.
State of Alaska Department of Public Safety offices.
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The update from DPS comes just days after the Bering Air Caravan flight was first reported overdue at around 4 p.m. local time on Thursday, Feb. 6, when it was on its way from Unalakleet to Nome.
On Friday, Feb. 7, authorities revealed during a press conference that an event took place around 3:18 p.m. on Thursday that caused the plane to lose elevation and speed, with its then-last-known location being “in the vicinity of Norton Sound, approximately 30 miles southeast of Nome,” per the U.S. Coast Guard. Later on Friday, the Coast Guard announced via a post on X that it had “located an aircraft matching the description of the missing plane approx. 34 miles southeast of Nome.”
At the time, “3 individuals were found inside and reported to be deceased,” according to the organization, which later noted that “the remaining 7 people are believed to be inside the aircraft but are currently inaccessible due to the condition of the plane.”
According to the Associated Press, which cited a press conference from National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy on Saturday, the plane was discovered on an ice floe that has been drifting five miles a day.
“Nome is a strong community, and in challenging times we come together and support each other. I expect the outpouring of support to continue in the coming days as we all work to recover from this tragic incident,” Nome Mayor John Handeland said, per the outlet.
As reported by KTUU-TV, the first two victims’ names were announced on Saturday night via ANTHC, as they were part of its Division of Environmental Health and Engineering team. Interim president and CEO Natasha Singh said in a statement that Baumgartner and Hartvigson had been flying back from Unalakleet after helping to “address heating and mechanical issues” that rural residents were having “in the depths of winter.”
“[They] were passionate about the work they did, cared deeply for the communities they served, and made a lasting impact on rural communities across our state,” Singh said.
Unalakleet is a “very small” and “very tight-knit” community, Kelsi Ivanoff, the City Administrator of Unalakleet, told KTUU-TV. “It’s not the outcome we wanted. But it’s a relief that we — that people can bring their loved ones home,” Ivanoff said. “Unalakleet’s no stranger to losing community members to plane wrecks. And I know this hits really close to home for our community.”
The Alaska crash marks the third major air crash in the U.S. resulting in multiple fatalities in recent weeks. An American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter collided on Jan. 29, killing 67 people. Two days later, a Jan. 31 crash in Philadelphia left seven people dead.
