Private plane carrying New York family missing in Bermuda Triangle region
The search is continuing for a missing private plane after it disappeared off the radar in the Bermuda Triangle area near The Bahamas.
There are reports debris has been found in the area since the plane's disappearance.
High profile New York CEO Jennifer Blumin and her two sons, aged four and eight, were on the plane as well as the pilot who has been named as Nathan Ulrich.
Ms Blumin's husband, New York architect James Ramsey, wasn't on board.
The plane departed Borinquen, Puerto Rico, at approximately 11am local time on Monday and never made it to its destination of Titusville, along the northeast coast of Florida, AP reports.
Their plane was at about 24,000 feet when air traffic control lost contact.
Ms Blumin's company, Skylight Group, said in a statement the family is hoping to help with the investigations.
“Her family is working with investigators and we politely ask that you respect their privacy at this time,” the company said.
Mr Ulrich, who was piloting the plane, is the founder and owner of Xootr , a manufacturer of folding kick scooters and folding bicycles. He is also a mechanical engineer graduate of the University of Pennsylvania
Debris that appeared to be from a plane and an oil slick was spotted in the search area east of Eleuthera but authorities were still trying to determine whether it came from the missing plane, Lt. Cmdr. Ryan Kelly, a Coast Guard spokesman, said.
“We are still searching and that search is going to go on through the night and into tomorrow,” Mr Kelly said.
“There’s no indication of significant adverse weather at the time."
Mr Ulrich was listed as the pilot but it was not known who was flying it at the time.
Ms Blumin owned the plane through a consulting company, according to New York State and aviation records.
Mr Ulrich’s ex-wife Rae Dawn Chony, the daughter of comedian Tommy Chong, told the New York Daily News that if the plane went down she is certain it would be an equipment failure.
“He’s an excellent pilot. You couldn’t get a better pilot,” she said.
“I’ve flown many hundreds of miles with him. It had to be a plane issue.”
The Twitter account for the US south east coast guard tweeted about the incident, and provided an image of the plane.
The mystery of the Bermuda triangle
The Bermuda Triangle, roughly bounded by Miami, Bermuda and Puerto Rico, where dozens of ships and airplanes have disappeared has created hundreds of conspiracy theories over the past few decades.
It's been blamed for the disappearance of over 75 planes and hundreds of ships since 1945 thanks to the unusual and unpredictable weather patterns in the region.
Many theories flood the internet blaming paranormal activity and electromagnetic interference as some of the possible reasons behind the unexplained disappearances.
The most talked about incident, and one that could be considered for the start of the mystery around the region, involved Flight 19 in December 1945 in which a training flight of five Grumman TBF Avenger bombers disappeared over the area.
The planes were due to fly in a 500km run over the Atlantic but they never returned to their base in Fort Launderdale.
Navy investigators blamed the disappearance on navigational error that resulted in a loss of fuel after the leader of the flight reported his compasses were wrong and the ocean didn't look as it should.
The mystery deepened when when a search and rescue aircraft deployed to search for the missing aircraft also disappeared with 13 men on board.
