A small plane which crashed in western Alaska with 10 people on board has been found and the US Coast Guard (USCG) says there were no survivors.

The Bering Air flight left Unalakleet at 2.38pm on Thursday but contact was lost less than an hour later, the firm’s operations director David Olson said.

On Saturday, in a post on X, the coastguard said: “USCG has ended its search for the missing plane after the aircraft was located approx 34 miles southeast of Nome. 3 individuals were found inside and reported to be deceased.

“The remaining 7 people are believed to be inside the aircraft but are currently inaccessible due to the condition of the plane. Our heartfelt condolences are with those affected by this tragic incident.”

The Cessna 208B Grand Caravan – carrying a pilot and nine adult passengers – was flying across Norton Sound when tracking site Flightradar24 reported it at 5,300ft before contact was lost.

It was travelling from Unalakleet, a community of about 690 people in western Alaska, to Nome, a gold rush town just south of the Arctic Circle.

The flight time is normally just under an hour.

Mike Salerno, a spokesperson for the US Coast Guard, said rescuers were searching the aircraft’s last known location by helicopter when they spotted the wreckage. They lowered two rescue swimmers to investigate.

In a post on Facebook, Nome’s fire department issued an update: “The Nome Search and Rescue Team is spooling up with assistance from the Alaska Air National Guard with recovery efforts.

“From reports we have received, the crash was not survivable. Our thoughts are with the families at this time.”

On Friday, Lieutenant Benjamin McIntyre-Coble, from the Alaskan coastguard, explained that the plane suffered a rapid loss of altitude and speed, according to radar data, but did not expand on the potential cause.

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Weather in Unalakleet at take-off time was -8.3C (17F) with fog and light snow, according to the US National Weather Service.

Bering Air serves 32 villages in western Alaska and air travel is often the only option of travelling long distances in rural parts of the US state, especially in winter.

It comes soon after two major air accidents in the US in recent weeks.

Sixty-seven people were killed when a jet and helicopter collided in Washington DC and seven died when a medical plane crashed in Philadelphia.

A search for a missing plane carrying 10 people is under way in Alaska.

The Bering Air flight left Unalakleet at 2.38pm on Thursday but contact was lost less than an hour later, the firm’s operations director David Olson said.

Officials are trying to work out its last-known position but the coastguard said the Cessna Grand Caravan was 12 miles offshore as it flew across Norton Sound.

Tracking site Flightradar24 reported it at 5,300ft before contact was lost.

It was travelling from Unalakleet, a community of about 690 people in western Alaska, to Nome, a gold rush town just south of the Arctic Circle.

The flight time is normally just under an hour.

In a post on Facebook, Nome’s fire department said: “We are currently doing an active ground search from Nome and from White Mountain.”

It added: “We ask the public to please think of those who may be missing at this time, but due to weather and safety concerns please do not form individual search parties.”

Weather in Unalakleet at take-off time was -8.3C (17F) with fog and light snow, according to the US National Weather Service.

Bering Air serves 32 villages in western Alaska and air travel is often the only option of travelling long distances in rural parts of the US state, especially in winter.

“Staff at Bering Air is working hard to gather details, get emergency assistance, search and rescue going,” said Mr Olson.

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It comes soon after two major air accidents in the US in recent weeks.

Sixty-seven people were killed when a jet and helicopter collided in Washington DC and seven died when a medical plane crashed in Philadelphia.

A federal judge has temporarily blocked Donald Trump’s plan to get rid of government employees by offering them a payout.

The ruling came hours before the midnight deadline for workers to apply for the “fork in the road” deferred resignation programme – which has been commonly described as a buyout.

US district judge George O’Toole Jr, in Boston, did not express an opinion on the legality of the programme but scheduled a hearing for Monday at 2pm local time (7pm in the UK).

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He also directed administration officials to extend the deadline for the programme until after the hearing.

Mr O’Toole could opt to delay the scheme further or block it on a more permanent basis when he considers the legal challenge from unions on Monday.

The offer promises to pay employees their salaries until 30 September – but current spending laws expire on 14 March and it isn’t clear whether salaries will be funded beyond this point.

It comes as on Thursday, Mr Trump is set to sign more executive orders, one imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court and another tackling what he called anti-Christian bias.

The worker buyout scheme is part of a broader move from Mr Trump’s administration to shrink and reshape the federal government.

An important aspect of that has been Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency – and he orchestrated the federal worker buyout scheme as well.

Responding to the development, press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Sky News’ US partner NBC News: “We are grateful to the judge for extending the deadline so more federal workers who refuse to show up to the office can take the administration up on this very generous, once-in-a-lifetime offer.”

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She also said that more than 40,000 people had accepted the buyout so far – this figure corresponds to around 2% of the federal government’s 2.3 million civilian workforce.

NBC News reported this figure to be higher, at 60,000, citing a senior administration official.

Around 6% of federal workers retire or resign in a normal year, according to the Partnership for Public Service.

Labour unions and opposing Democrats have said the offer is not trustworthy.

The buyout covers not just employees at domestic agencies, like the Environmental Protection Agency, but intelligence agencies like the CIA as well.

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The administration also warned those who do not accept the buyout could still lose their jobs.

This is the latest of Mr Trump’s efforts to be blocked by a judge over concerns of legality.

Mr Trump’s effort to block birthright US citizenship has been blocked by a second federal judge in two days.