FOUR people are feared dead after a private plane crashed off the coast of Latvia on Sunday evening.
Earlier, NATO had scrambled jets to follow its erratic course.
The Austrian-registered Cessna 551 aircraft with flight number OE-FGR was flying from Jerez in southern Spain and is believed to have been privately rented.
It took off at 12.56pm without a set destination, according to the FlightRadar24 website.
It turned twice, at Paris and Cologne, before heading straight out over the Baltic, passing near the Swedish island of Gotland.
At 5.37pm it was listed on the flight tracker as rapidly losing speed and altitude.
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The plane was understood to be carrying the pilot, a man, a woman, and a person it described as a daughter, German newspaper Bild reports.
“We’ve learned that the plane has crashed (in the ocean) north-west of the town of Ventspils in Latvia,” a spokesperson for Sweden’s rescue service said. “It has disappeared from the radar.”
German and Danish war planes had earlier been sent to inspect the aircraft as it passed through those countries’ airspace but were unable to make contact, Johan Wahlstrom of the Swedish Maritime Administration said.
“They could not see anyone in the cockpit,” he said.
A Lithuanian air force helicopter was dispatched to the crash site to carry out a search and rescue operation, a spokesperson said.
Latvian authorities also sent ships to the scene.
“Our ships are on the way to the position where the plane crash happened,” said Liva Veita, spokesperson of the Latvian Navy.
A Stena Line ferry travelling from Ventspils to Norvik in Sweden was also redirected to the crash site, according to the MarineTraffic website.
The website showed a Swedish search and rescue helicopter and airplane at the site as well.
A fighter aircraft from the NATO Baltic Air Police mission in Amari airfield in Estonia had earlier taken off to follow the plane.
Aviation security expert Hans Kjäll told the Swedish news agency TT pressure problems could have caused passengers to lose consciousness.
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The company listed as the aircraft’s owner in Austria’s aircraft register is GG Rent.
The Sun has contacted the firm for comment.
