The Cessna Caravan left Unalakleet at 2:37 p.m., and officials lost contact with it less than an hour later, according to David Olson, director of operations for Bering Air. The aircraft was 12 miles (19 kilometers) offshore, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

A Bering Air plane carrying 10 people vanished less than an hour after it took off at 2:37 p.m. from Unalakleet in western Alaska yesterday. Bering Air Flight 445 had 9 passengers aboard and one pilot,