Five people are missing as the U.S. Coast Guard continues to search for a downed civilian aircraft that was headed to the Bahamas from South Carolina on Thursday.

The plane, which disappeared Thursday morning around 110 miles east of Charleston, was a Piper PA-31 aircraft, according to the Coast Guard.

Coast Guard crews, with the aid of helicopters, an airplane and the Cutter Hamilton, a ship based in North Charleston, have now searched approximately 3,000 square miles for the downed aircraft. Air Traffic Control received a report about an in-flight emergency on Thursday morning, and officials then lost radar contact with the plane, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

Officials said there were five people aboard the missing airplane, reports the Post and Courier.

Authorities also said they would continue to search by air and sea for the missing plane.

The Post and Courier reports that FlightAware.com identified the plane as a 1976 two-engine Piper owned by Bulldog Flying Club Inc. in Wilmington, Del., that seats eight people.