After the mysterious crash of a plane in the Baltic Sea, Latvian emergency services continue to search for the missing occupants. After several pieces of wreckage and wreckage from the crashed machine were recovered from the sea, rescuers also found human body parts near the crash site. The remains have been handed over to criminal police for further investigation, Latvian Navy spokeswoman Liva Veita told Leta news agency on Tuesday. The head of Latvia’s maritime rescue coordination center Peteris Subbota also confirmed the discovery, which was made on Monday night, before dark.
The private plane flew over the Baltic Sea on Sunday en route from Spain to Cologne. There, he crashed into the sea at night off the west coast of the Latvian port of Ventspils. Communication with the Cessna 551 with four people on board had been disrupted long before the accident. The identity of the passengers has not yet been officially confirmed. Systems engineering firm Griesemann, based in Wesseling, near Cologne, announced that the four missing persons were company founder Peter Griesemann, two family members and one other person.
Latvian Navy and Border Guard ships are used for maritime searches. On Tuesday, rescue teams began searching underwater with the help of drones and special equipment. Work is expected to continue in the coming days, Subbota said. According to him, the aircraft, which was registered with an aviation company belonging to the Griesemann family, may not have a black box. This can make it more difficult to determine the cause of the accident, which has not yet been clarified.
Published/Updated:
Published/Updated:
Published/Updated:
Griesemann is a mid-sized company in the Rhineland that claims to have over 1,600 employees in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands and works in lightning protection, among other things. The current head of the company is the son of the founder, who retired in 2015. The news of the possible death of Griesemann, who also works as a carnival artist, caused sadness and horror in Cologne. Mayor Henriette Reker was dismayed by the “tragic accident” in a message to the family.