A backpack and passport believed to belong to one of the four passengers of a plane that went missing on Sunday have been found. A landing gear that may be part of the crashed plane was also discovered in the Marigot Sea where it is believed the missing plane crashed into.
The CEO of the Dominica Air and Seaport Authority (DASPA), Benoit Bardouille, stated that the French-registered aircraft took off from the Douglas-Charles Airport and was headed to the Le Raizet Airport in Guadeloupe.
He revealed that the aircraft became airborne at 6:43 pm and its pilot was charged by the air traffic controller to report back after clearing 1,500 feet. But the pilot did not report back and the air traffic controller could not raise him on the radio neither could the aircraft be raised on the radar.
“At that point in time the aircraft, not being in contact with the air traffic control in Dominica and not being in contact with Guadeloupe was considered to be a missing aircraft,” Bardouille said.
Bardouille stated that a private individual had called the fire service that he saw something like an aircraft crash into the Marigot Sea. He said the fire department contacted fishermen and mobilized the Coast Guard for help to locate the missing aircraft. The Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority, as well as French authorities, are helping with the search, and two helicopters have been deployed for the search.
The four passengers in the missing plane are French citizens. There was a 40-year-old man, a 55-year-old couple, and their 16-year-old son in the missing aircraft. Search is still in progress, but “the search conditions are made difficult with strong winds and rough seas causing poor visibility due to frequent squalls,” the Guadeloupe prefecture said.
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