A prominent German businessman was piloting the private plane that crashed into the Baltic Sea after flying half way across Europe without responding to controllers' calls.
Karl-Peter Griesemann is thought to have been at the helm of the Austria-registered Cessna 551 - which costs around a $1million new - when it left Jerez in southern Spain yesterday afternoon.
The jet flew from Spain, turning at Paris and Cologne before flying straight out into the Baltic Sea.
Off the coast of Latvia the aircraft tumbled out of the air, spiralling before crashing into the waves, according to flight tracking data.
"I can confirm that it was the private jet of our owner, Karl-Peter Griesemann," said a spokesperson for Quick Air, an air charter company based in Cologne. Griesemann and three others were on board the plane, the spokesperson added.
Cologne newspaper Express reported that Griesemann was the pilot and that he was accompanied by his wife Juliane, daughter and trained pilot Lisa, 26, and her boyfriend Paul.
Around 7.30pm last night the Cessna was seen rapidly losing speed and altitude on a global flight tracker.
Some experts suggested the family might've been knocked unconscious from low oxygen levels caused by a drop in cabin pressure.
However, the cause of the crash is not yet known.
Spain's air traffic control service ENAIRE said it lost contact with the aircraft in airspace above Toledo at 1455 local time (1255 GMT), an hour after it took off.
It alerted controllers in France, and two warplanes were sent up to monitor the jet.
Sweden's rescue service - which sent rescue boats, planes and and a helicopter to the crash site - shared the location of the wreckage.
A spokesperson said: "We've learned that the plane has crashed (in the ocean) north-west of the town of Ventspils in Latvia."
"It has disappeared from the radar."
The country's coast guards later confirmed the wreckage had been found.
Swedish rescuers were joined at the site by aircraft from several countries and a passenger ferry.
A wreck, a concentrated patch of waste and an oil-like slick had been spotted near the crash site, Latvian search and rescue head Peteris Subbota told Latvian television, adding no passengers had been found.
German and Danish warplanes were sent up to observe the aircraft as it flew over northern Europe on Sunday afternoon but were unable to spot anybody on board.
Griesemann has been a prominent figure in Cologne, the largest city in western Germany, playing a role in the deeply Catholic city's annual carnival celebrations.
Yesterday a plane hijacker was arrested after threatening to crash his aircraft into a supermarket in Mississippi.
Police and other emergency services assisted in the evacuation of Walmart as well as a car dealership in Tupelo, northeast Mississippi, amid fears the plane could slam into the ground.
A spokesman for Tupelo Police Department (TPD) had earlier warned the mystery hijacker had indicated the small aircraft could be crashed intentionally into the usually-busy supermarket, as a flight path showed the plane flying in circles.
After several hours of flying, the plane finally landed in a nearby field and its pilot arrested, according to a Government source.
