MEDIA RELEASE

HONOLULU — The Coast Guard is responding to a report of a possible downed aircraft with three people aboard approximately four miles east of Ilio Point, Molokai, Friday.

Responding are an HC-130 Hercules airplane crew and an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point, Oahu, the USCGC Kittiwake (WPB 87316) an 87-foot Coastal Patrol Boat homeported in Honolulu, and crews from the Molokai Police Department and the National Parks Service.

At 7 p.m., watchstanders at the Coast Guard Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Honolulu received a call from personnel at the Honolulu Control Facility stating a Cessna 172 with three people aboard reportedly disappeared from radar while enroute from Molokai airport to Honolulu.

Weather on scene was reported to be winds at approximately 19 mph, 4 to 6 foot seas, 3,000 foot ceiling and poor visibility.