A plane crashed in the ocean after straying off course and losing radio contact, resulting in the loss of four lives.
Multiple military aircraft were dispatched to pursue the plane, which seemed to have an empty cockpit.
Sunday evening, it crashed into the Baltic Sea near Latvia after running out of fuel.
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According to various reports, a private Cessna plane crashed into the Baltic Sea after becoming inattentive to air traffic control and adopting an unscheduled course.
As of Monday, no survivors have been discovered. German and Swedish media identified those on board as 72-year-old German businessman Peter Griesemann, his wife Juliane, their daughter Lisa, and a male companion.
It was unknown what caused the plane to crash into the waters of Latvia on Sunday, hundreds of kilometers from its intended destination.
A Swedish official told Insider that no one was visible in the cockpit or cabin when military jets were dispatched to investigate while the Cessna was in flight.
Sunday at 2.56 p.m. local time, a Cessna 551 took off from Jerez, Spain, en route to Cologne, Germany, according to the flight-tracking website FlightRadar.
The German daily Bild stated that shortly after departure, the aircraft reported cabin-pressure issues and lost touch with air traffic control shortly after exiting Spanish territory. (Bild and Insider have the same parent corporation, Axel Springer.)
In a conversation with Insider, Lars Antonsson, a spokesman for the Swedish Maritime Administration, stated that German, Danish, and Swedish military planes pursued the Cessna as it flew erratically through their territory.
Antonsson stated that the jet was escorted into Swedish airspace by a Coast Guard helicopter and two Swedish fighter fighters. Antonsson stated that the Swedish pilots were unable to see anyone at the Cessna’s controls or in the cabin, confirming what their German and Danish counterparts had told them.
Before 8 p.m. local time, the jet began to lose altitude and spiraled into Latvian waters near Ventspils after running out of fuel, according to Bild.
According to Deutsche Welle, aviation-safety expert Hans Kjall told the Swedish news agency TT that rapid cabin depressurization could have caused the passengers and pilot to lose consciousness.
Thousands monitored the jet’s journey on a flight-tracking website as it followed an unexpected route, as investigative writer Scott Stedman tweeted.
—Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) on Twitter
September 4, 2022
Antonsson told Insider that search-and-rescue activities were initiated by Latvia, but as of Sunday midnight, no one had been located. As of early Monday morning, only wreckage and an oil slick were visible, according to the German publication Express.
According to the aviation website Airliners, a Cessna 551 is a kind of small corporate jet having as many as ten seats.
Griesemann founded the engineering company Griesemann group, according to an archived version of the company’s website.
The website, which was accessible as of late Sunday local time, was inaccessible on Monday. The corporation did not react to Insider’s request for comment immediately.
According to Bild, Griesemann was also the honorary president of a popular Cologne festival, the Blue Sparks Carnival. Griesemann’s death was confirmed by its founder in a statement to the German news website Report-K.