Skip to main content
Wednesday, November 11, 2026Nov 11

Bag that washed ashore is from plane carrying 6, police say

In this Aug. 1, 2008 photo, Dublin Irish Festival honorary chairman John T. Fleming proposes at toast following the tapping of the first Dublin Stout Keg at Brazenhead in Dublin, Ohio. A flight-tracking service shows that a plane piloted by the Ohio executive with five other people onboard quickly lost altitude after taking off from Cleveland's lakeshore airport. The parents of Superior Beverage Company executive John T. Fleming confirmed he was piloting the Columbus-bound plane when it vanished late Thursday, Dec. 29, 2016, over Lake Erie.   (ThisWeek Newspapers/The Columbus Dispatch via AP)
In this Aug. 1, 2008 photo, Dublin Irish Festival honorary chairman John T. Fleming proposes at toast following the tapping of the first Dublin Stout Keg at Brazenhead in Dublin, Ohio. A flight-tracking service shows that a plane piloted by the Ohio executive with five other people onboard quickly lost altitude after taking off from Cleveland's lakeshore airport. The parents of Superior Beverage Company executive John T. Fleming confirmed he was piloting the Columbus-bound plane when it vanished late Thursday, Dec. 29, 2016, over Lake Erie. (ThisWeek Newspapers/The Columbus Dispatch via AP) In this Aug. 1, 2008 photo, Dublin Irish Festival honorary chairman John T. Fleming proposes at toast following the tapping of the first Dublin Stout Keg at Brazenhead in Dublin, Ohio. A flight-tracking service shows that a plane piloted by the Ohio executive with five other people onboard quickly lost altitude after taking off from Cleveland's lakeshore airport. The parents of Superior Beverage Company executive John T. Fleming confirmed he was piloting the Columbus-bound plane when it vanished late Thursday, Dec. 29, 2016, over Lake Erie. (ThisWeek Newspapers/The Columbus Dispatch via AP)

CLEVELAND (AP) – A bag that washed ashore near a private harbor has been confirmed as coming from a small plane carrying six people that disappeared over Lake Erie near Cleveland, authorities said Monday as they resumed a search for the missing aircraft.

The city said there have been multiple reports of debris washing ashore east of Burke Lakefront Airport, where a plane carrying a family of four and two neighbors departed late Thursday. John T. Fleming, chief executive of a Columbus-based beverage distribution company, was piloting. His wife, Sue, their two teenage sons, Jack and Andrew, and two neighbors were also aboard.

Police confirmed that a bag recovered Sunday was from the aircraft. It was found near Shoreby Club Harbor in Bratenahl, a small lakeside community. No other details were released immediately.

The other debris hadn’t been verified as coming from the Cessna 525 Citation.

The aircraft was headed to Ohio State University Airport, northwest of downtown Columbus. The plane suddenly lost altitude about 2 miles out, according to a flight-tracking service.