Lille, France, April 3 (AFP/APP):A search was underway Sunday tolocate a British light aircraft with two people on board thatdisappeared over the English Channel, the French coastguard said.
The Piper PA-28 plane took off from Wellesbourne, a village in centralEngland, on Saturday for the northern French seaside resort of LeTouquet, the maritime prefecture said.
The British-registered plane had taken off with five other lightaircraft as part of a joint outing, the prefecture said.
Its last known position was half-way over the Channel some 25 miles(45 kilometres) from Dungeness in the southeast of England, accordingto the UK coastguard.
A substantial search operation by both British and French authoritieson Saturday proved fruitless.
Britain’s Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported that the single-engineplane was owned by a staff instructor at a flying school based inWellesbourne.
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It named him as Guy Wakeley. The flying school’s website lists hisformer roles as chief executive for Morrison, a social housingmaintenance group, and financial services group Equiniti.
The website said it was holding a “Club Fly-Out” to Le Touquet onSaturday. An official at the school declined to comment on who wasaboard the plane to The Sunday Telegraph.
The search resumed on Sunday with a French helicopter and a Frenchnavy rescue boat, as well as a UK coastguard plane.
Commercial ships in the area were also asked to help, but no debrishas yet been found and no witnesses reported seeing the plane go down,the prefecture told AFP. -APP/AFP
