Updated

An official with the Civil Aviation Authority in the Dominican Republic says a small executive jet is missing after taking off from Las Americas airport in the capital.

Civil Aviation spokesman Hector Olivo says the twin-engine Hawker Siddeley was flying from Santo Domingo to Punto Cana on the eastern tip of the country but never arrived at its destination.

Olivo said authorities were searching for the plane Thursday and were not certain how many people were on board.

The jet is registered to a company based in Dover, Delaware. It took off Wednesday and the control tower lost contact shortly afterward.

In October 2011, a plane disappeared from an airport north of the capital and was located several days later hidden in a forest in Venezuela.