Aircraft en Route to Miami Missing With Four Souls Onboard

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THE BAHAMAS – An air and sea search continues for four people after their aircraft vanished after leaving Great Harbour Cay, en route to Miami.

The Aircraft Accident Authority says the plane lost contact with air traffic controllers around 10 this morning.

And there are still a lot of unknowns, even now.

The plane disappeared off radar around 10 on Monday morning, and is believed to have crashed in waters off North Andros.

The Aircraft Accident Authority confirmed the incident in a statement, reporting a Piper PA-34, United States registration November 212 Mike Lima, was unaccounted for.

It’s believed that four people were on board.

Here’s what we know so far.

The aircraft departed the Great Harbour Cay Airport shortly after 10:00 a.m. , en route to Miami Executive Airport.

The plane eventually lost contact with Miami Center.

The Royal Bahamas Defence Force, or RBDF, and the U.S. Coast Guard were contacted to help in the search, but reported no signs of any wreckage or survivors.

Initial checks by the Coast Guard in the vicinity of the last known position of the aircraft, off the west coast of North Andros, confirmed no signs of the plane or the occupants.

This preliminary flight data captured by our news team shows the last moments of the flight.

You can see the aircraft leave Great Harbour Cay Airport, flying towards North Andros, where it appears to have encountered some bad weather.

The data shows the plane possibly attempting to turn around before vanishing about 30 miles off San Andros.

Another thing we observed, the aircraft was flying at 10,000 feet, with the speed dropping dramatically down to 30 knots at an altitude of 7,000 feet, where the plane continued to plummet.

Around 4:30 on Monday afternoon, we observed a Coast Guard Ocean Sentry appearing to conduct a grid-pattern search around the area where the flight vanished.