PASCAGOULA, Miss. (AP) — The Coast Guard was searching off the Mississippi Gulf Coast on Tuesday for a single-engine plane that was reported missing with three people on board.

The plane lost radar contact soon after taking off from Gulfport about 12:30 p.m. Monday, Coast Guard spokesman Jonathan Lally said. It was headed to South Carolina, and the Coast Guard was notified about 10:40 p.m. that the plane was missing, Lally said.

A search is taking place Tuesday in the Mississippi Sound. According to radar and cellphone signals, the plane’s last known location was about 3.5 miles south of Pascagoula, over the water.

The general manager of a facility at Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport said a single-engine plane that’s missing had stopped there for fuel and had taken off shortly after noon Monday.

Peter Mastroianni runs the Million Air terminal, used by private, corporate and military planes. He tells The Associated Press that the private plane was not a tenant at the airport.

He would not release information about how many people were on board, citing respect for relatives still awaiting word on their loved ones.

Coast Guard crews from New Orleans, Pascagoula, and Mobile, Alabama, are involved in the search, as is a crew from the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources.

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