Wikimedia CommonsA plane travelling from South Carolina to the Bahamas has vanished without a trace.
The Piper PA-31 aircraft was confirmed to have gone missing around 11.33am, 100 miles south-southeast of Charleston, on Thursday, by the Federal Aviation Administration.
The plane left Robert F Swinnie Airport in Andrews headed for the Bahamas.
The US Coast Guard and US Navy are both searching the area.
The Coast Guard said the Jacksonville Air Route Traffic Control Center received a report from the aircraft of an in-flight emergency, which then lost contact on radar and subsequently notified the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center.
Officials of the Coast Guard then confirmed they were responding to a fallen aircraft.
The Coast Guard said in a tweet:
Crews are responding to a downed civilian aircraft approximately 110 miles east of Charleston, SC.
USCG has multiple assets searching the aircraft’s last known location.
Numerous military aircrafts and ships were occupied assisting the search yesterday.
The plane itself belongs to a family small, twin-engined and cabin-class aircraft.
Largely unpopular now, the Piper PA-31 Navajo ceased production in 1984 due to a drop in demand.
Federal records show the missing PA-31 is registered to a company based in Delaware.
It’s unclear how many people were on board the plane, but a Piper PA-31 aircraft is capable of carrying up to nine passengers.
It was due to fly to Governor’s Harbour Airport on Eleuthera island in the Bahamas.
The plane is believed to have crashed into the ocean.
If you have a story you want to tell send it to UNILAD via stories@unilad.co.uk.
Please share with loved ones. from http://bit.ly/2Ji9jaK
