A bag that was on the plane was found, but no sign of wreckage yet

Jan 29, 2013 14:24 GMT  ·  By
Missoni CEO, Vittorio Missoni, is still missing after plane disappeared in early January
   Missoni CEO, Vittorio Missoni, is still missing after plane disappeared in early January

Vittorio Missoni, the CEO of prestigious Italian label Missoni, is still missing. He and his wife, together with two family friends and crew of a small aircraft, went missing at the beginning of the month – but families are still holding on to hope that they will be found safe and sound.

Missoni and his wife had boarded the plane, destination Italy, after ringing in the New Year in an exotic location, the island of Los Roques.

The plane slipped off the radar off the coast of Venezuela shortly after takeoff, as we also reported at the time.

The wreckage is yet to be found, which brings families fresh hope that perhaps a crash did not occur – and that all the passengers on the plane are safe and sound.

Bringing them even more hope is the fact that a bag that was on the plane was found, The Huffington Post reports.

“The bag, recovered on the Caribbean island of Curacao, belonged to Italian tourist Giorgio Neri, whose plane took off just moments after Missoni's flight. Because there was a shortage of cargo space, the bag was placed on Missoni's aircraft,” HuffPo writes.

“A German tourist on Curacao found the bag and sent an email to Neri when he returned home,” adds the same media outlet.

Finding out how the bag ended up at the airport could offer a clue into the six missing persons, Missoni included.

Though the families have never lost the hope of getting their loved ones back home unharmed, all of them are guarded in their statements to the press after the new finding.

“[No one is] drawing any conclusion,” a Missoni spokesperson says, adding that “this is simply another piece of an already complex puzzle.”

The theory that Missoni was kidnapped and is being held for ransom has also been circulated, even though there is very little to support it right now.