Tropical Storm Octave Halts Search For Missing Plane
Tropical Storm Octave halted efforts to search for a small plane that went missing Monday after taking off from Loreto in Baja California Sur state..
According to BBC News, the small plane was carrying at least 14 people when it disappeared. The report quoted Carlos Enriquez, head of Baja California Sur emergency services, who said:
“A Marine plane was going to go out but the conditions right now are no good for the search. We’ve suspended things until the conditions change.”
The Weather Channel confirmed the search was made up of at least five civilian and military aircraft. Transportation Department representative Alejandro Cruz said that as of Tuesday, the search had covered terrain stretching from Loreto south to the plane’s destination of Ciudad Constitucion.
Reports stated that all previous efforts to find the plane and contact the pilot have failed. The aircraft, now being described as a small single-engine propeller model, disappeared shortly after taking off from Loreto on Monday morning in bad weather.
Tropical Storm Octave brought warnings of significant rainfall and wind speeds that were clocked at 65 mph.
Octave isn’t the only storm brewing in the area. Tropical Storm Priscilla formed in the eastern Pacific, south of Tropical Storm Octave. The Christian Science Monitor warned that Priscilla is centered some 705 miles southwest of the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California and “is moving north-northeast near 12 mph.”
The report said that “Octave is centered about 245 miles south-southwest of Cabo San Lazaro, Mexico, and is moving north-northwest near 14 mph.”
Search efforts for the missing plane are expected to resume once the weather starts to calm down.
It is important to remember that weather conditions can turn disastrous at any time. Be sure to keep up to date on all storm situations and make certain you are properly prepared for foul weather.
