Four feared dead after private jet ‘with family onboard rapidly loses altitude’ & plummets into sea in horror crash

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. Universal News & SportFour people are feared dead after the Cessna jet crashed into the sea off Latvia[/caption] The Austrian-registered Cessna 551 aircraft was flying from Jerez in southern Spain, from where 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. “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. German newspaper Bild reported that the plane was carrying the pilot, a man, a woman, and a person it described as a daughter, without sourcing the information. A Lithuanian air force helicopter was dispatched to the crash site for search and rescue at neighbouring Latvia’s request, a Lithuanian air force spokesperson said. Latvia said it had 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. Most read in News OLIVIA ARREST Third man, 29, arrested as cops probe murder of Olivia Pratt-Korbel, 9 HOLIDAY TRAGEDY Brit woman, 35, plunges to death from sixth floor window of Majorca hotel FAMILY SLAIN Heart-breaking pics of girl, 18, & eight-year-old twins 'stabbed to death' PATI-OH NO I returned from a shopping trip to find my patio had been taken away by council TRAGIC TWIST News anchor killed herself 'after finding woman's underwear in home' THE GIRL IN THE BOX Horror as woman, 20, kept as sex slave in coffin under bed for 7 YEARS 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. The Lithuanian air force spokesperson said earlier that fighter aircraft from the NATO Baltic Air Police mission in Amari airfield in Estonia had taken off to follow the plane, without giving any more details. The company listed as the aircraft’s owner in Austria’s aircraft register, Cologne-registered GG Rent, could not immediately be reached for comment.