Sad: Fashion designer Vittorio Missoni aboard plane missing off Venezuela.

Word buzzing around says, Italian fashion designer Vittorio Missoni is missing after a plane disappeared off the coast of Venezuela. Missoni, wife Maurizia, two friends and two Venezuelan crew 'missing' after Friday takeoff from resort of Les Roques.



Rescue crews used boats and aircraft on Saturday to search for a small plane that disappeared in Venezuela, while carrying the chief executive of Italy's iconic Missoni fashion house and five other people.

Twenty-four hours after the BN-2 Islander aircraft disappeared from radar screens on its short flight from the resort island of Los Roques, no sign of the plane had been found, officials said.

"We have no other news" said Paolo Marchetti, a Missoni SpA official, when asked about the plane that was carrying Vittorio Missoni, the head of the company; his wife, Maurizia Castiglioni; two of their Italian friends; and two Venezuelan crew members. Marchetti spoke briefly to reporters as he left company headquarters in the northern Italian town of Sumirago on Saturday afternoon.

Missoni's younger brother, Luca, who is active in the family-run business, was reportedly traveling to Venezuela on Saturday to monitor search efforts.

Credit