On the evening of September 4, local time, the Swedish rescue department said that a US-made Cessna private plane flew over several European countries and crashed in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Latvia nearly 5 hours after takeoff. The plane was allegedly carrying 4 people, and NATO countries urgently dispatched warplanes to track the off-course aircraft. But both nato pilots and the Swedish rescue team said no one was found in the cabin.
The plane took off from Spain and crashed in the Baltic Sea
According to flight data platform FlightRadar24, the Cessna 551 took off from the southern Spanish city of Jerez de la Frontera at 12:56 GMT without setting a destination. But Latvia's Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement that the plane was scheduled to land at Cologne Bonn Airport in western Germany. But during the flight, it unexpectedly changed course and flew to the Baltic Sea.
The pilot reported a "problem with air pressure" in the cockpit shortly after takeoff, but the plane continued to fly. Allegedly, the plane flew irregularly before flying to the Baltic Sea, making two turns near Paris, France, and Cologne, Germany. The plane lost contact with air traffic controllers while over southern French territory. Countries such as France, Spain, Germany and Denmark sent warplanes for inspection, but none of them could contact the aircraft. After flying over the southern tip of the Swedish island of Gotland at 17:37 GMT, the aircraft was listed as "rapidly losing speed and altitude" on the Flight Radar 24 and eventually disappeared from radar in northwestern Latvian waters.
"We learned that the plane crashed in the northwestern part of the Latvian town of Ventspils (in the ocean)," said a spokesman for the Swedish rescue service. "It's gone from radar." Rescue teams from Sweden, Latvia and Lithuania have been sent to the crash site for rescue work.
A "mysterious plane" believed to have flown over NATO countries in June
According to reports, there were 4 people on board, and there were also sources that at least 6 people were on board. So far, their identities have not been made public. But fighter pilots from several countries said they failed to spot anyone in the cockpit or inside the cabin. Swedish search and rescue operation officials said the plane "crashed when it ran out of fuel," adding that "no human remains were found" and that only "small pieces of aircraft wreckage and oil slicks" on the surface of the water were found at the site of the potential crash.
Lars Antonsen, head of the Swedish search and rescue operation, said rescuers could not give any explanation at the moment, but could only speculate on what happened. It said the crew was clearly incapacitated and that the chances of finding crash survivors were "slim". Aviation safety experts also said that cabin pressure problems are likely to cause in-flight personnel to lose consciousness.
The aircraft was reportedly registered in Austria, but the owner is said to be in Spain and the owner has not yet been able to contact it. The situation of the "ghost plane" remains largely a mystery, and if confirmed, it will be the sixth "ghost plane" crash since 1980.
In June, an unidentified "mystery plane" took off from Lithuania without permission, "illegally" over Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Romania over nato countries, as well as Serbia, and finally landed at an abandoned airport in Bulgaria. When the plane was discovered, the crew had disappeared.
Red Star News reporter Ding Wen
Editor-in-charge Deng Xuguang Editor Wang He
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