Small plane with 6 on board vanishes from radar in Bahamas

NASSAU, Bahamas – Authorities lost track of a small plane with six people on board Wednesday as it travelled between two islands in the Bahamas and searchers later found a debris field, suggesting the aircraft may have crashed into the ocean, officials said.

The twin-engine Piper Aztec was en route from Andros to New Providence in the morning when it turned back and then disappeared from the radar of air traffic controllers in Nassau, said Delvin Major, chief investigator for the Bahamas Air Accident Investigation Department.

The U.S. Coast Guard said later that a helicopter crew found a debris field about 5 miles east of Andros Island, and the Royal Bahamas Defence Force was heading to the area to investigate.

The six-seat plane was registered to a local airline and the pilot was Bahamian. There was no information about the others on board.

There was fog and low visibility around New Providence at the time that air traffic control first registered the plane on radar, but it was not known why the plane apparently turned back toward Andros, Major said.