Loss Of Altitude And Speed, Private Aircraft Types Of Cessna Falls Off Latvian Beach

Illustration of the Cessna 551 Citation II SP aircraft. (Wikimedia Commons/Raimond Specking)

JAKARTA - A private plane crashed off the coast of Latvia on Sunday evening, Swedish rescue services said, after the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) deployed jets to follow its erratic path.

The Austrian-listed Cessna 551 aircraft flew from Jerez in southern Spain, where it took off at 12.56 GMT to no avail, according to the FlightRadar24 website.

It turned twice, in Paris and Cologne, before heading straight to the Baltic, past near the Swedish island of Gotland. At 17.37 GMT, the plane lost speed and altitude quickly, according to the flight tracking site.

"We have learned that the plane crashed (at sea) northwest of Ventspils City in Latvia," a Swedish rescue service spokesman said.

"(The plane) has disappeared from the radar," he continued.

Previously, German and Danish warplanes had previously been sent to inspect planes as they passed through the country's airspace, but were unable to make contact, said Johan Wahlstrom of the Swedish Maritime Administration.

"They can't see anyone in the cockpit," he said.

Meanwhile, German newspaper Bild reported that the plane was carrying a pilot, a man, a woman and someone described as a girl, with no source of information.

A Lithuanian air force helicopter was sent to the crash site for search and rescue at the request of neighboring Latvia, a Lithuanian air force spokesman said.

Latvian authorities say they have sent ships to the scene.

"Our ship is on its way to the location where the plane crash occurred," said Liva Veita, a Latvian Navy spokesman.

Separately, a Stena Line ferry traveling from Ventspils to Norvik in Sweden was also diverted to the crash site, according to the MarineTraffic website.

The website also shows Swedish SAR helicopters and aircraft at the site.

A spokesman for the Lithuanian air force said earlier the fighter plane from the NATO Baltic Air Police mission at the Amari airfield in Estonia had taken off to follow the plane, without providing further details.

The company, which is registered as the owner of the plane in Austrian registration, GG Rent, registered with Cologne, could not immediately be reached for comment.