Six Onboard Still Missing

Officials are looking for survivors after a Cessna Citation Bravo went down in Lake Michigan late Monday afternoon.

The aircraft -- operating as a Lifeguard flight and carrying a crew of two, with two surgeons and two perfusionists onboard -- took off from Milwaukee's General Mitchell International Airport just before 4 pm, bound for Detroit's Willow Run Airport.

The Citation's pilot reportedly radioed a distress call less than five minutes after departing, before contact was lost.

WISN-12 reports a Detroit television station confirmed the doctors onboard were from University of Michigan, and were heading to Detroit to perform a double lung transplant. The team had flown from Detroit to MKE earlier in the day to recover the organs to be used in the transplant.

As a precaution, MKE closed to flight operations for about 20 minutes following confirmation the aircraft went down. Rain was falling at the time of the crash, according to a local meteorologist, with winds blowing from the north at 20 mph.

Coast Guard search crews located an area of discolored water, believed to be where the aircraft went down, about 20 minutes after being dispatched. Milwaukee Fire Chief Doug Holton told The Associated Press at least 12 divers were searching for signs of the plane, in water as deep as 60 feet.

The aircraft (similar to type shown above) is owned by Toy Air, based in Southfield, MI.

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.umich.edu