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Small plane crashes in Baltic Sea after flying off course

Small plane crashes in Baltic Sea after flying off course

Cologne (dpa) - A private aircraft en route from Spain to the German city of Cologne flew way off course and ended up far over the Baltic Sea before it crashed into the water off the coast of Latvia.

The German Air Force, the Luftwaffe, confirmed the plane crash on Twitter on Sunday evening.

Before the crash, all contact with the aircraft had been lost. According to the German newspaper Bild, a pilot, a man, a woman and her daughter were on board.

Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that a German family apparently owned the plane, citing Spanish sources familiar with the incident. Austrian news agency APA reported the jet was registered in Austria to a German company.

The coastguard discovered traces of oil on the water and smaller pieces of debris, Johan Ahlin of the Swedish Maritime Rescue Agency said, according to Swedish broadcaster STV. Ahlin said there was little hope of finding the plane's occupants alive.

The aircraft had reported pressure problems in the cabin after take-off from Jerez in southern Spain and contact with the ground broke off shortly after it left the Iberian peninsula, according to Bild.

The unusual flight behaviour prompted alert squadrons consisting of two Eurofighters to go up into German airspace, a Luftwaffe spokesman told dpa Sunday evening. According to initial findings, the pilot may have become unconscious.

Pressure problems could have caused the passengers to lose consciousness, aviation safety expert Hans Kjäll told the Swedish news agency TT. This can happen quickly, especially at altitudes small aircraft fly in, he said.

The aircraft was a Cessna 551, the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported. The aircraft flew beyond the German island of Rügen, entered Swedish airspace, then went south of Gotland and on towards the Gulf of Riga before crashing into the sea.

The plane was supposed to land at Cologne-Bonn airport in the early evening.

A rescue operation was in full swing, a representative of the authorities told the Latvian news agency Leta.

The air force plans to take part in rescue efforts and a Stena Line passenger ferry was also diverte