An Atlantis Airlines plane headed from the Dominican Republic to New York disappeared from radar Monday shortly after taking off from Santiago airport.

The plane was a Britton-Norman Islander propeller plane carrying about 11 passengers and crew. It was scheduled to stop in the Bahamas to refuel when it presumably crashed.

The pilot sent a distress call, but authorities do not know exactly where or when it went down.

The Coast Guard and other organizations are reportedly searching for the craft and any survivors near the Turks and Caicos islands, but as of midday Tuesday they had not found any evidence of it amid rough seas and low visibility.

The area where the plane disappeared is near the border of the notorious Bermuda Triangle, the mythic region of the Atlantic Ocean where dozens of planes and ships have supposedly gone missing without a trace for hundreds of years.

Though some doubt the existence of the Triangle, which encompasses an area roughly from the southern tip of Florida to Bermuda and back down to the southernmost Caribbean islands, others maintain that there is some sort of supernatural force at work in the area.

Experts generally agree that many of the “inexplicable” disappearances either never occurred, involved ships or planes that eventually turned up, or happened during hurricanes or other adverse weather conditions.

It remains to be seen whether the Atlantis Airlines flight is found in the next few days, or whether it will become part of the legend of the Bermuda Triangle.

Related links: Associated Press, Reuters, International Business Times

By Karen Elowitt for PeterGreenberg.com.

Get more information about Airlines & Airports here.

Stay safe with our Travel Safety & Security section.