Plane wreckage found off Brazil's coast

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- Rescue workers found the wreckage of a small plane that went missing four days ago off Brazil's northeastern coast with four British businessmen and two local pilots, British officials said Tuesday.

Nadia Nightingale, a spokeswoman for the British Consulate in Rio de Janeiro, said navy and air force teams found the wreckage some 55 to 60 miles (90 to 95 kilometers) north of where it vanished Friday near the northeastern colonial harbor town of Ilheus.

She said the rescue teams saw no signs of the plane's occupants.

A patrol plane, two helicopters and navy vessels continue searching the ocean and coastal mountains for the twin-engine Cessna that vanished off the southern coast of the state of Bahia.

The plane had taken off from the city of Salvador, and officials lost contact with it eight miles (13 kilometers) off the coast, minutes before it was to land Friday in Ilheus, according to Brazil's Aero Star airline.

The airline identified the businessmen as Alan Kempson, Sean Woodhall, Ricky Every and Nigel Hodges. Also missing are the plane's pilot and co-pilot, Clovis de Figueiredo e Silva and Leandro Oliveira Veloso.

Edylson Pereira dos Santos, an official with Brazil's Infraero airport authority, said the four passengers were investors in a luxury real estate venture in Ilheus.

Weather had been good, and the pilots reported no problems with the plane, the airport authority said.

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