According to the Latvian sea rescue coordination center, a wreck and debris were discovered in the sea during the night search operation. However, no passengers had been found by Monday morning, said the head of the agency, Peteris Subbota, on Latvian television. The wreck is now to be brought to the port city of Ventspils.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that, according to the Swedish authorities, the plane was a machine registered in Austria. According to current knowledge, the inmates are not Austrian citizens.
Communication interrupted for a long time
The private plane flew on Sunday on its way from Spain to Cologne over the Baltic Sea and crashed into the sea off the coast of Latvia in the evening. According to information available to the rescue service, there were four people on board, Subbota said. However, communication with the aircraft had been interrupted for a long time before the accident.
According to the head of the Latvian sea rescue service, the search operation is currently taking place in an area six by six kilometers. The Baltic Sea is about 60 meters deep at this point. The fact that the exact place and time of the accident are known makes the search easier. As the Swedish sea and air rescue center announced, Latvian authorities have taken over the management of the search. They are therefore supported by emergency services from Estonia and Lithuania.
The cause of the accident remains a mystery
Many questions about the accident and its cause remained unanswered on Monday. According to the Swedish broadcaster SVT, the flight safety expert Hans Kjäll suspects that there could have been a pressure drop in the cabin of the aircraft, after which the occupants had become unconscious. The plane was flying at an altitude of about 11,000 meters, where the air pressure is low. If there is a drop in pressure at such an altitude, you can expect to become unconscious, he said.
Little was initially known about the identity of the four people on board. The Spanish newspaper “El País” reported, citing Spanish sources familiar with the incident, that a German family who are said to have heard the machine – an elderly man, his wife, a daughter of the couple and a man of their age.
Source: Nachrichten
