U.S. Suspends Search for Downed Plane near Jamaica
The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended its search for the plane carrying a prominent upstate New York entrepreneur couple that crashed off the coast of Jamaica after a mysterious "ghost" flight.
Friday's accident prompted coordination between longtime foes Cuba and the United States after the seven-seater plane flew south over the communist island and across the Caribbean, ignoring calls from air traffic control.
Real estate entrepreneur Larry Glazer and his wife Jane from Rochester, New York were killed in the crash aboard the Socata TBM-700 single-engine turbo prop aircraft, according to New York state officials.
The flight took off on Friday from Rochester at 8:26 am (12:26 GMT) bound for Naples Municipal Airport in Florida.
The U.S. scrambled fighter jets when the plane stopped responding to air traffic controllers, with reports saying the pilot was seen "unconscious and slumped over" in the cockpit.
A Coast Guard C-130 cargo plane found several small objects in the water, but by the time rescuers reached the site there was no sign of debris, the Coast Guard said.
A Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter, as well as the cutter Webber and Jamaican Defense Force crews searched throughout the day on Saturday, but failed to relocate the debris field.
That prompted the Coast Guard to call off its search on Sunday.
"Our deepest sympathy goes out to the family of the two missing people; the Coast Guard suspends a search and rescue case with extremely great care and deliberation," Coast Guard chief of response management Captain Todd Coggeshall said in a statement.
"After a search area is saturated several times with a maximum number of assets, resources and crew effort, and persons in distress are still not located, a decision is made to suspend a case."
An HC-130 Hercules aircraft also assisted in the search, and the North American Aerospace Defense Command scrambled two F-15 fighter jets early in the operation.
Search crews completed 12 search patterns covering across 3,750 square miles (9,710 square kilometers) over a 70-hour period, according to the Coast Guard.
Source: Agence France Presse
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