The crew are still working to recover the bodies of the 10 people killed in the crash of a plane in Alaska, officials said.
Jennifer Homundy, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said the crash investigation was in “early stages” and it was too early to tell them what it was causing.
The Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft, run by local operator Bering Air, had moved from Unalakleet to Nome on Thursday when it lost radar contact.
As nine passengers and pilots were on board the plane, they came down at Norton Sound about 34 miles (55km) southeast of Nome, a city of about 3,500 on the west coast of Alaska.
Among the dead were two employees of the Alaska tribal health consortium, Rhone Baumgartner and Kameron Hartvigson.
The nonprofit said Friday that they traveled to Unalakleet to carry out maintenance work at the water plant.
Homedy said nine investigators were on the scene, backed up by Washington, DC experts.
“Recovery efforts are still ongoing, and the priority is the recovery of the victim,” she said at a press conference in Anchorage, Alaska's biggest city.
“I want to take a moment to erase the deepest pathos of our dolphins to those who have lost their loved ones in this tragedy,” she said.
Homedy said recovering workers were dealing with worsening weather conditions, with the wreckage landing with ice frozen moving at a speed of five miles a day.
In a statement, Bering Air, which operates commercial and charter flights, expressed its sadness and said it would cooperate in investigating crashes.
ReutersThe Alaska Troopers said the “expired” aircraft was notified at 16:00 local time on Thursday (01:00 GMT).
The Norm Volunteer Fire Department said the pilot had told air traffic controllers that he was “intent on entering the holding pattern while waiting for the runway to be cleared.”
The US Coast Guard later said the plane had experienced a rapid loss of altitude and speed before contact was lost.
The footage showed low visibility in the area around the time of the crash.
Alaska Senator Lisa Markowski shared her pathetic dol after the incident.
“Alaska is a big, small town. When tragedy strikes, we have never been far from being directly affected by Alaska,” she writes online.
Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy said he was “grief” by the loss of flight.
“Our prayers are with passengers, pilots and their loved ones during these difficult times,” he said.
Unakleet and Nome are about 150 miles from each other, past Norton Sound, a Bering Sea cove on Alaska's west coast.
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