By Jessie Yeung and Isaac Yee

(CNN) — A search of Alaskan waters is underway in rough weather after a regional airline flight with 10 people on board went missing, according to local and state officials.

The Cessna aircraft, operated by Bering Air, was en route Thursday from Unalakleet to Nome, cities in western Alaska separated by the Norton Sound inlet, according to the Alaska State Troopers. The state police agency was notified at 4 p.m. “an overdue aircraft” had gone missing with nine passengers and a pilot on board, it said in a dispatch message shared on its website.

The Nome Volunteer Fire Department was conducting ground searches from Nome and White Mountain but was limited in air searches due to poor weather and visibility, it said on Facebook. The US Coast Guard and US Air Force stepped in to help, with flights planned to scope out the area and try to locate the missing aircraft, the department said.

Bering Air is based in Nome and serves more than 30 local communities, according to its website.

The search comes as US air safety is under scrutiny as investigators continue to probe two deadly incidents in recent weeks: the midair collision of a US military Black Hawk helicopter and a passenger jet near Washington, DC, the left 67 people dead, and the crash of a medevac jet in Philadelphia that killed seven.

The plane lost in Alaska, a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan, was last seen over the Norton Sound around 3:16 p.m., data from flight tracker FlightRadar 24 shows. It was about 12 miles offshore when its position was lost, according to the Coast Guard.

As of Thursday evening, there was light snow and freezing drizzle around Nome Airport; at one point, visibility was down to only half a mile, with forecasts of wind gusts up to 35 mph overnight.

“The plane’s exact location is still unknown. We continue to expand search efforts to as many avenues as possible until the plane is located,” the fire department wrote Thursday evening. It urged the public not to form their own search parties due to the weather and safety concerns.

The flight tracker also showed a Coast Guard HC-130 flying near the plane’s last known location on Thursday evening, with the fire department saying it carried “specialized equipment for search and rescue that enables them to locate objects and people through no visibility conditions.”

“Staff at Bering Air is working hard to gather details, get emergency assistance, search and rescue going,” said David Olson, director of operations for Bering Air, the Associated Press reported. CNN has reached out to Bering Air for further comment.

Local hospitals are gearing up in case they need to respond, with the Norton Sound Health Corporation “standing ready to respond to a community medical emergency,” it said. The Norton Sound Regional Hospital also set up a family center for loved ones of the passengers to gather while waiting for news.

Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska posted about the incident: “We are hearing reports of a possible missing plane en route to Nome. Our thoughts and prayers are with the passengers, their families and the rescue crew.”

CNN’s Robert Shackelford, Amanda Jackson, Josh Campbell, Jeremy Harlan and Martin Goillandeau contributed to this report.

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