A private jet believed to be carrying four people has mysteriously crashed into the Baltic Sea off the coast of Latvia on Sunday.
Early reports suggest Karl-Peter Griesemann, a German businessman, and three others were onboard the Cessna 551.
Following the incident, NATO sent fighter jets to follow the plane’s erratic flight after it left southern Spain, heading towards Cologne, Germany.
The Latvian Civil Aviation Authority said: “The aircraft was flying from Spain to Cologne, but during the flight the aircraft changed its flight route.”
The plane is believed to be carrying at least four people on board, including the pilot, a man, a woman, and their daughter. However, traffic controllers were unable to communicate with the aircraft’s crew, the authority added.
NATO pilots and Swedish officials tracking the plane, a Cessna 551, said they also failed to see anyone in the cockpit. Rescue personnel has already launched an operation, but authorities have warned that the chances of finding survivors are low.
According to the Latvian Civil Aviation Authority’s latest report, the plane was registered in Austria, but its owner was in Spain.
The data tracking website FlightRadas24 showed that the Cessna 551 was losing speed and latitude at around 17:37 GMT after taking off from the Spanish city of Jerez de la Frontera around 12:56.
The plane had reported cabin pressure problems after the takeoff, but controllers lost contact with the crew when the Iberian pellet cleared, the German newspaper Bild reported.
NATO was quick to send fighter jets to intercept the plane. In addition, Latvia, Sweden, and Lithuania sent rescue teams, who arrived at the crash site shortly after the aircraft was reported to have fallen into the sea near Ventspils, a Latvian city.
Later, the leader of Sweden’s search and rescue operation Lars Antonsson said the plane had crashed because it had run out of fuel. He also revealed that no human remains had been found.
Although rescuers have yet to come up with an explanation for the crash, it is known that the people on board were not capacitated to fly the plane, Mr. Antonsson added.
