UPDATE | Coast Guard suspends search for missing plane with 6 onboard

CLEVELAND (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard tonight suspended its search for an airplane that was carrying a beverage distribution company executive and five other people when it vanished over Lake Erie shortly after takeoff from the city's lake shore airport.

The Coast Guard said it would step aside to allow Cleveland to begin recovery efforts of the plane and the victims.

"The decision to suspend a search is never easy," Capt. Michael Mullen, chief of response for the Coast Guard 9th District, said in a statement. "I extend my deepest condolences to the family and friends of those who lost loved ones during this tragedy."

John T. Fleming, the chief executive of a Columbus-based beverage distribution company, was piloting the plane, which was carrying his wife, Sue Fleming, their teenage sons, Jack and Andrew, a neighbor and the neighbor's daughter. The plane suddenly lost altitude about 2 miles out during a scheduled return trip to Columbus, according to a flight-tracking service.

The Flemings have Mahoning Valley ties. John T. and his wife are Boardman High School graduates.