A private Cessna jet crashed off the coast of Latvia on Sunday afternoon, the Swedish rescue service said after NATO fighter jets following it took off.

The Austrian-registered Cessna 551 aircraft was flying from Jerez in southern Spain, from where it departed at 15:56 Greek time without specifying a destination, FlightRadar24 reported.

It turned twice, in Paris and Cologne, before heading over the Baltic Sea, passing close to the Swedish island of Gotland. At 20:37 the site recorded a rapid loss of speed and altitude.

“We have learned that the plane crashed (into the ocean) northwest of the city of Ventspils in Latvia,” a spokesman for the Swedish rescue service said. “He’s gone off the radar.”

German and Danish warplanes had previously been sent to inspect the plane as it flew through their airspace, but were unable to make contact with it, said Johan Wahlström of the Swedish Ports Authority.

“They couldn’t see anyone in the cockpit,” he said.

A Lithuanian Air Force helicopter was sent to the crash site for search and rescue operations at the request of neighboring Latvia, a Lithuanian Air Force spokesman said. Latvia stated that it sent ships there.

“Our ships are on their way to the crash site,” said Liva Veita, a spokeswoman for the Latvian Navy.

The Stena Line vessel, en route from Ventspils to Norvik in Sweden, was also ordered to change course and head towards the wreck, according to the MarineTraffic website. The site also shows a Swedish search and rescue helicopter and aircraft at the scene.

A Lithuanian Air Force spokesman said earlier that a NATO fighter jet from the NATO Baltic Air Patrol Mission took off from Amari Airport in Estonia to track the plane, without giving details.

Source: APE-MPE, Reuters, AFP.