Status: 05.09.2022 00:15 a.m
A private plane en route from Spain to Cologne flew over the Baltic Sea and crashed into the sea off the coast of Latvia. The four occupants may not have survived.
In the early evening, the Swedish authorities sent the first emergency call: A small plane with an emergency on board is located between the Swedish islands of Öland and Gotland – according to the spokeswoman.
The private jet took off from Spain in the afternoon and was supposed to land in Cologne. Instead, the machine flew further north with four people on board – without contact with air traffic control.
Ann-Louise Karlsson from the Swedish shipping authority said in the evening that probably nobody survived: “There is an airplane and a helicopter at the scene of the accident. If an airplane falls into the water from a height and at such a high speed and you only still finds wreckage, then there are no survivors.”
Unconscious pilot?
It is said that it was no longer possible to contact the private jet via France. According to Swedish authorities, the plane did not land in Cologne as planned, but continued towards Denmark, Sweden and then towards Latvia.
Eurofighters from Germany and also Danish jets had accompanied the plane. The pilots could not see anyone in the cockpit.
What exactly happened on board is still unclear. The Swedish aviation expert Hans Kjäll suspects a drop in pressure in the cabin, he said on Swedish radio: “The thesis is that the people on board passed out due to the drop in pressure. The autopilot was switched on, the private jet held its altitude for so long until it ran out of fuel. Then it fell into the sea.”
A spokesman for the Air Force said so WDRthat the constant flight data indicated that the autopilot was engaged and the pilot may have been unconscious.