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Fashion designer Vittorio Missoni aboard plane missing off Venezuela Fashion designer Vittorio Missoni aboard plane missing off Venezuela
(about 4 hours later)
The Italian fashion designer Vittorio Missoni, head of the eponymous fashion house, was aboard a small plane that has disappeared off the coast of Venezuela, a company spokeswoman said on Saturday. Rescue crews used boats and aircraft on Saturday to search for a small plane that disappeared in Venezuela, while carrying the chief executive of Italy's iconic Missoni fashion house and five other people.
"The Missoni family has been informed by the Venezuelan consulate that Vittorio Missoni and his wife are missing, but we don't know any more," said Maddalena Aspes. "The authorities will resume their search for the plane in the morning." Twenty-four hours after the BN-2 Islander aircraft disappeared from radar screens on its short flight from the resort island of Los Roques, no sign of the plane had been found, officials said.
Italian media reported that the plane went missing on Friday morning after takeoff from the resort of Los Roques, an archipelago off the coast of Venezuela. Also reported to have been aboard the Britten Norman NB2 twin-engine plane with Missoni, 58, and his wife, Maurizia Castiglioni, were another couple and two Venezuelan crew members. "We have no other news" said Paolo Marchetti, a Missoni SpA official, when asked about the plane that was carrying Vittorio Missoni, the head of the company; his wife, Maurizia Castiglioni; two of their Italian friends; and two Venezuelan crew members. Marchetti spoke briefly to reporters as he left company headquarters in the northern Italian town of Sumirago on Saturday afternoon.
Missoni is the son of the founders of the family-owned fashion house famous for its exuberantly coloured knits, featuring bold stripes and zigzags. Vittorio is co-owner with siblings Luca and Angela. Missoni's younger brother, Luca, who is active in the family-run business, was reportedly traveling to Venezuela on Saturday to monitor search efforts.
The newspaper La Repubbica said Venezuelan aircraft, motorboats and helicopters had taken off at dawn Saturday to resume the search for the missing plane, which had been suspended on Friday night. The Italian news agency ANSA, reporting from Rome, said a specialized ocean-searching naval vessel also was being deployed.
Vittorio Missoni is the eldest son of the company's founder, Ottavio, who at 91 still follows the business. The Corriere della Sera newspaper reported that Ottavio and his wife, Rosita, were at their home in Italy, along with their daughter Angela, a chief fashion designer with the company, waiting for information about the search. Rosita Missoni designs housewears and Angela's daughter, Margherita, has been infusing the classic designs with fresh appeal.
The Missoni house, with its trademark zigzag and other geometric patterns in sweaters, scarves and other knitwear, is one of Italy's most famous fashion brands abroad. Vittorio Missoni has played a key role in marketing the Missoni family creations in Asia, especially in Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea as general director of marketing for Missoni SpA. He also spearheaded a push for the company's products in the United States and France. His efforts to expand the brand abroad led him to be dubbed the company's "ambassador".
On Friday, Venezuela's interior minister, Nestor Reverol, said the plane had been declared missing hours after taking off from Los Roques, a string of islands popular for scuba diving, white beaches and coral reefs, where the Missonis and their friends were on vacation.
Vittorio Missoni has been described as an active sportsman and lover of the outdoors. He and his wife and their friends from northern Italy were scheduled to fly back to Italy on Friday, but their internal flight never made it to Caracas. La Repubblica said the plane disappeared off radar screens shortly after takeoff from Los Roques on what was to been a 90-mile flight to the mainland.
The Missoni brand is scheduled to display its latest menswear creations on the Milan runways in a fashion show later this month.
On 4 January 2008, another plane returning to the Venezuelan mainland from Los Roques disappeared with 14 people aboard, including eight Italians. The body of the plane's Venezuelan co-pilot later washed ashore, but despite a search lasting weeks no other victims or the wreckage were found. In 2009, a small plane returning from Los Roques with nine people aboard plunged into the Caribbean Sea; all survived.