Authorities are working to recover the wreckage of a plane crash in western Alaska that killed 10 people while investigators are trying to determine what caused the small commuter aircraft to go down in the icy Bering Sea.

The commuter flight that crashed on Alaska sea ice last week was part of the workhorse network of short-hop flights that people in the vast state rely on for routine.

The 10 Alaskans killed in the crash near Nome include a mentor to new teachers, a school counselor and two Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium employees traveling to service a local water plant.