Authorities identify 10 people who died in Alaska plane crash

The bodies of all 10 people who died in a crash of a Bering Air caravan in Alaska on Thursday have been recovered from the wreckage, according to the Alaska State Troopers.

Bering Air Flight 445, a Cessna 208B, crashed into sea ice about 34 miles southeast of Nome, Alaska, after going missing during a flight Thursday afternoon, authorities said.

There were nine passengers, all adults, and a pilot on board the commuter plane, authorities said.

The bodies of all 10 people were recovered and taken to Nome where they were identified, authorities said in an update Saturday.

The pilot was identified as Chad Antill, 34, of Nome. The nine passengers were identified as Liane Ryan, 52, of Wasilla; Donnell Erickson, 58, of Nome; Andrew Gonzalez, 30, of Wasilla; Kameron Hartvigson, 41, of Anchorage; Rhone Baumgartner, 46 of Anchorage; Jadee Moncur, 52, of Eagle River; Ian Hofmann, 45, of Anchorage; Talaluk Katchatag, 34, of Unalakleet; and Carol Mooers, 48 of Unalakleet.

Earlier, ABC News confirmed two passengers -- Baumgartner and Hartvigson -- were employees of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, a nonprofit organization providing health services for Alaska Native people.

They worked in the organization's environmental health and engineering department and had traveled to Unalakleet to service a heat recovery system that is critical to the community water plant, according to leaders with the consortium.

Both men “were motivated by a deep commitment to our mission," said David Beveridge, the organization's vice president of environmental health and engineering, in a statement.

"They had the skills to help people across Alaska and the devotion to do so under any conditions. These two members of our team lost their lives serving others," he said.

The wreckage of the plane was found on Friday.

Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, said Saturday it's still too early to tell what caused the crash as the agency begins its investigation.

Weather conditions both the recovery and probe difficult as the wreckage was located on an ice floe moving 5 miles a day, Homendy said during a press briefing.

The Alaska State Troopers was handling the recovery of the bodies, Coast Guard Lt. Commander Mike Salerno told ABC News. The Alaska National Guard also said Saturday that it would provide personnel and equipment to help with the operation including two HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters, a Nome-based UH-60L Black Hawk, an HC -130J Combat King II and a team of pararescuemen.

The wreckage was found by a search and rescue crew on a USCG MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter and then two rescue swimmers were lowered down to survey the plane.

The Bering Air flight had disappeared while flying from Unalakleet Airport to Nome Airport around 3:20 p.m. local time Thursday, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

"The aircraft was 12 miles offshore transiting from Unalakleet to Nome when its position was lost," the U.S. Coast Guard Alaska maritime region said. The plane was reported overdue at 4:30 p.m. local time Thursday, authorities said.

Earlier Friday, an "item of interest" was identified by an aircraft participating in the search efforts though details were not immediately available at the time, Coast Guard Officer Ben McIntyre-Coble said during a press briefing.

Radar analysis shows that at approximately 3:18 p.m. Thursday, the aircraft "experienced some kind of event which caused them to experience a rapid loss in elevation," McIntyre-Coble said.

"What that event is, I can't speculate to," he added.

Multiple agencies have been involved in the search-and-rescue effort, including the Alaska Army National Guard, Alaska State Troopers and Nome Volunteer Fire Department.

ABC News' Marilyn Heck, Ayesha Ali and Alex Stone contributed to this report.