NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - The U.S. Coast Guard located a debris field in connection with the search of a twin-engine turboprop plane that departed Puerto Rico for Florida Monday and vanished off the Bahamas.
An MH-60 helicopter crew located the debris about 15 miles east of Eleuthera, Bahamas, the Coast Guard tweeted Tuesday afternoon. Searchers are looking for survivors. Authorities have not confirmed that the debris is from the plane, but a Coast Guard rescue swimmer retrieved some of the debris for identification, the Coast Guard said.
The area of the search is within the famed Bermuda Triangle, where legend has it that many planes and ships have mysteriously gone missing.
Jennifer Blumin, 40, of New York, Nathan Ulrich, 52, of New Hampshire, and Blumin's 3-year-old and 4-year-old sons were on board, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
Miami Air Traffic Control lost radar and radio contact with the MU-2B airplane about 37 miles east of Eleuthera, Bahamas, at 2:10 p.m. Monday. The plane was flying at about 24,000 feet when contact was lost.
"There's no indication of significant adverse weather at the time," said Lt. Cmdr. Ryan Kelly, a Coast Guard spokesman.
A Coast Guard C-130 Hercules airplane searched Monday. On Tuesday, a C-130 and an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter searched, the Coast Guard said. The Coast Guard also sent the Cutter Bernard C. Webber to help.
Blumin is founder and CEO of Skylight Group, an event space firm. "Her family is working with investigators and we politely ask that you respect their privacy at this time," Skylight said.
Ulrich, a pilot and an engineer, is a co-founder of Xootr, which makes adult scooters. In a tweet, actress Rae Dawn Chong said he is her ex-husband.
"I am sad and in shock," she wrote. "So send prayers to his family."
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol and the Royal Bahamas Defense Force were part of the search force, the Coast Guard said.
With the AP.