Human remains and debris have been found in the Baltic Sea during a search operation off Latvia’s coast where an Austrian-registered private plane crashed in mysterious circumstances on Sunday.
The plane took off from Spain and was due to land in Cologne, Germany, but crashed into the Baltic Sea near Latvia.
Read more: Private plane from Spain crashes into Baltic Sea, people on board were 'incapacitated'
According to Spanish media, the private Cessna 551 plane was flown by Karl-Peter Griesemann, the owner of Quick Air, a charter jet service. His wife, daughter, and her boyfriend were also reportedly on board.
Peteris Subbota, head of the Latvian military’s Marine Search and Rescue Coordination Centre, told The Associated Press that “remains of human bodies we believe to be associated with the crash” were found on Tuesday during the search operation by Latvian coast guard vessels and underwater robots.
Air traffic controllers on Sunday lost contact with the Cessna 551 plane shortly after it took off from the Spanish city of Jerez.
A Cessna 551 that was flying from Jerez was supposed to land in Cologne but the pilot didn't answer ATC calls and the aircraft contiued to fly on autopilot in a straight line before it lost altitude and crashed into Baltic sea close to the Latvian coast https://t.co/iIVNoMNksW pic.twitter.com/klQQosArTg
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) September 4, 2022
According to the German newspaper Bild, the plane reported a cabin pressure problem after take-off. Communication was lost as the aircraft flew over the Iberian Peninsula.
Several European countries scrambled fighter jets as the plane made its way across the continent but were unable to contact anyone in the cockpit.
The plane disappeared from radar while it was flying off course over the Baltic Sea, apparently on autopilot, and later crashed into Latvian waters some 23 miles northwest of the port city of Ventspils.
Rescue teams from Latvia, Sweden, and Lithuania were working at the scene.
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