A private Cessna 551 with the registration OE-FGR crashed into the Baltic Sea off the coast of Latvia, near Ventspils, as reports emerged in the evening hours of September 4. Sources such as Delfi noted the tragedy in the waters east of Latvia, while Bild reported that the aircraft carried a husband and wife along with a daughter. A separate Latvian agency, LETA, later indicated that six people were aboard the aircraft at the time of the accident.
The jet, registered in Austria, had departed from Jerez in southern Spain and lifted off at 12:56 pm local time. Flight tracking services did not publicly disclose a final destination, but Delfi cited Cologne as a possible arrival point for the flight plan. Shortly after takeoff, the crew reported an issue with cabin pressure and the aircraft failed to maintain contact after leaving the Iberian Peninsula. The flight path appeared to arc over Paris and then Cologne during the early phase of the journey.
Air traffic control at Cologne Airport attempted to reestablish contact with the Private jet, but communications could not be resumed. Television coverage from Sweden described the aircraft briefly maintaining an altitude around 11,000 meters and a speed near 670 kilometers per hour in the moments just after departure. As the situation unfolded, fighter aircraft from Germany and later Denmark were dispatched to monitor the suspicious flight profile. The airplane was reported to be headed toward the Baltic Sea and the Swedish island of Gotland as authorities assessed the trajectory.
At 17:37 GMT, the aircraft began to lose speed and descend rapidly. A German news agency report later echoed updates from another agency indicating the pilot may have lost consciousness. The Swedish rescue services subsequently confirmed that NATO fighters observed no one in the cockpit during visual reconnaissance from the air.
The private jet subsequently crashed around 6.5 kilometers northwest of Ventspils. Within about twenty minutes, a Latvian Coast Guard vessel had reached the site and launched ongoing search operations. Rescue helicopters from Sweden and Lithuania contributed to the efforts, according to Delfi, which cited statements from the Latvian Navy on the maritime search and rescue coordination center. Debris and an oil sheen were detected by a helicopter deployed to the scene, and additional vessels from the Latvian Navy were dispatched to support the investigation and rescue attempts.
The Stena Line ferry operating between Nynäshamn in Sweden and Ventspils was identified as part of the rescue operations, with Delfi noting the vessel was in proximity to the crash area during the incident. Reuters reported that GG Rent, registered in Cologne and listed as the owner in the Austrian registry, had not issued an official comment regarding the crash as of the early reporting period.
Juhan Alin, a representative for the Latvian Navy Coast Guard, reflected the grim assessment by rescue officials, indicating that the chances of survivors were extremely slim. The Cessna 551 is a light business aircraft powered by twin turbofans. It represents an upgraded variant of the Cessna 550 Citation II, a model developed by the American manufacturer Cessna Aircraft Company. The first production units of the 551 model were introduced in the mid-1980s, and the type is typically operated by a single pilot. The incident prompted immediate international and regional coordination among search and rescue authorities as the investigation proceeds. At this stage, authorities are reviewing flight records, air traffic communications, and maintenance history to determine the sequence of events that led to the loss of control and the subsequent crash in the Baltic waters, with civilian observers and aviation analysts weighing in on potential causes and preventive measures for the future.