Coast Guard continues search in Bermuda Triangle for plane with 4 aboard

The search for any survivors aboard a small plane that went missing Monday afternoon with a woman with connections to Southold and her young sons on board resumed Thursday morning, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

Part of a seat, an air intake plug and fuel from the plane were found Wednesday in a debris field in the Bermuda Triangle but Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Eric Woodall said in a telephone interview Thursday that no other debris has since been discovered.

Woodall said efforts are still being concentrated on finding survivors. He said that as of shortly before 9 a.m. Thursday a cutter used in the overnight search and a plane were deployed to canvass the area.

The twin-engine Mitsubishi MU-2B turboprop aircraft bound for Florida from Puerto Rico was carrying Manhattan CEO Jennifer Blumin, 40, her sons Phineas, 4, and Theodore, 3, and pilot Nathan Ulrich, 52, of Lee, New Hampshire.

Communications were lost on Monday afternoon while the plane was about 37 miles east of Eleuthera, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

A Coast Guard helicopter crew spotted the debris field about 15 miles east of Eleuthera, the Bahamas, early Wednesday that yielded “confirmed components” of the type from the missing small plane.

The Coast Guard has hunted for the plane since Miami air traffic control reported it had lost radio and radar contact at 2:10 p.m. Monday. On Tuesday, about 3:30 p.m., the helicopter crew found the debris field.

By Wednesday afternoon, the Coast Guard had spent more than 30 hours searching more than 8,200 square miles.

The plane was traveling at about 300 knots and was 24,000 feet above the ground when it lost contact with air traffic control, the Coast Guard said. The trip began in Borinquen, Puerto Rico, about 11 a.m., the Coast Guard said, and the travelers were headed for Titusville, Florida.

Blumin is the founder and chief executive of Skylight Group, a Manhattan firm that finds venues for top fashion shows.

The 10-seat plane is registered to Ithaca Consulting, which is listed as having the same Southold address where records show Blumin owns a home.

Ulrich owns Xootr LLC, which makes scooters and is also the technical director of Radon Sport LLC, which works on race cars, according to his LinkedIn page.