Debris found in Bahamas matches missing plane carrying CEO and 2 kids
MIAMI -- Authorities believe they have found debris from a U.S.-bound plane near an island in the Bahamas but have not given up searching for the four people on board, who include two young children and a prominent New York businesswoman, the Coast Guard said Wednesday.
Material recovered from the sea east of the island of Eleuthera was determined to have come from a twin-engine MU-2B aircraft, the type that air traffic control lost contact with as it traveled from Puerto Rico to Florida on Monday, said Lt. Cmdr. Ryan Kelly, a Coast Guard spokesman.
"The debris does match up with that style of aircraft and we have notified the family," Kelly said.
A search for the people on board was ongoing and expected to continue, he said.
The people on board the plane were identified as Nathan Ulrich, 52, of Lee, New Hampshire, and Jennifer Blumin of New York, 40, along with her 3- and 4-year-old sons.
Blumin was founder and CEO of Skylight Group, which provides event space around New York City, specializing in the fashion industry.
The company released a statement confirming that she and members of her family were on the plane. "Her family is working with investigators and we politely ask that you respect their privacy at this time," it said.
Their plane was at about 24,000 feet when air traffic control in Miami lost contact with it for unknown reasons.
Oscar Smith, a former NYPD search and rescue diver who owns a gym next to Blumin's apartment in New York City's TriBeCa neighborhood, told CBS New York he remembers seeing the family in the neighborhood.
"Search and rescue teams, hopefully they will find them alive and give that relief to the family," he said. "That's what you train for. Your whole thing is not to recover. It's a rescue operation and then, unfortunately, it just recovery."
