Aircraft missing on flight from St Vincent to Tobago
Minister of National Security Confirms Plane Did Not Crash and No Lives Lost
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Security, Major St. Clair Leacock, has provided a crucial update regarding the Dominican Republic-registered aircraft that went missing en route to Tobago. Speaking during a radio broadcast, Minister Leacock confirmed that international, regional, and national agencies have located the aircraft and that no lives have been lost.
Leacock stated that since the disappearance, he has been in continuous contact with his Commissioner of Police, as well as regional security bodies including the Regional Security System (RSS) and CARICOM IMPACS. While he confirmed that authorities have names associated with the plane, the Minister remained highly guarded regarding specific details, emphasizing that the situation is a delicate security matter.
“I cannot share all of the information that we have on it,” Leacock explained, warning that revealing specific operational details could compromise the ongoing work of the agencies involved. He further noted that intelligence and security forces are closely monitoring the situation, stating that authorities are focused “not so much [on] the aircraft because aircraft don’t fly itself, [but] the people who fly in that aircraft” so they can take an appropriate course of action.
The aircraft at the center of the operation is a twin-engine Dominican Republic-registered Beechcraft Baron (identified as a B58T or 58P Pressurized Baron) bearing the registration number HI-1145.
According to an official June 15 press release from the Ministry of Tourism, Civil Aviation and Sustainable Development, the plane departed Argyle International Airport in St. Vincent at 11:52 a.m. local time on Friday, June 12, 2026, with two people on board.
The flight was scheduled for a one-hour and five-minute journey to the A.N.R. Robinson International Airport in Tobago. Initially, the flight proceeded without incident, maintaining normal radio contact with Argyle Air Traffic Control.
A standard transfer of communications was completed when the aircraft reached 40 nautical miles south of Argyle, which marks the southern boundary of St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ controlled airspace. After this transfer, all radio contact was lost, and when the plane failed to arrive at its destination, authorities officially initiated a distress phase.
Prior to its disappearance, the aircraft was being monitored on the flight tracking website Flightradar24, which showed it operating under visual flight rules (VFR) at an altitude of 4,025 feet and traveling at a speed of 142 knots.
All tracking data abruptly ceased mid-flight over the Southern Caribbean Sea, placing the aircraft somewhere near Grenadian or Venezuelan territorial waters.
Before this incident, flight records indicated that HI-1145 had been operating normally, completing several flights between Canouan and mainland St. Vincent on June 10th and 12th without reported issues. Notably, this disappearance is part of a disturbing trend, marking the second aircraft to vanish after traversing the Canouan to St. Vincent flight path since December 2023.