Just hours after finding 10 people dead in western Alaska from one of the deadliest plane crashes in the state in 25 years, authorities are racing to recover their remains and the wreckage of the small commuter plane from unstable sea ice before expected high winds and snow.

A Bering Air Cessna 208 Caravan carrying 10 people went missing over Alaska on Thursday afternoon while flying to Nome.

A Bering Air flight with nine passengers and its pilot went missing in Alaska after the plane suffered "some kind of event" and "rapidly lost altitude and speed" on Thursday