Officials have confirmed a single engine propeller aircraft has crashed roughly 120 nautical miles east of St. John’s this morning. Halifax’s Joint Rescue Coordination Centre received the Garmin Alert and SOS from an American registered aircraft at 9:08 Tuesday morning.

A spokesperson with JRCC tells NTV News the flight plan was registered from St. John’s to Santa Maria Island in the Azores. JRCC confirms one person was on board and is unaccounted for.

A large response has been tasked, including a Hercules Aircraft from CFB Greenwood, a Cormorant helicopter from Gander 103 SAR, Provincial Airlines, two Canadian Coast Guard vessels, Cougar Helicopters SAR and two fishing vessels which were re-routed in the area.

A life raft was spotted; however further investigation revealed it was empty. JRCC also confirms a small debris field reported with one possible aircraft pontoon.

The aircraft is an Air Tractor AT-802, likely used in firefighting and agriculture spraying and was possibly on an aircraft delivery.

These images were taken by avid plane spotter Vince Gibbons earlier this morning just before take-off on runway 10 at St. John’s International Airport.