Puerto Rican plane crashes with 11 people aboard

MIAMI (Reuters) - A Puerto Rican plane carrying 11 people crashed in the sea near the Turks and Caicos Islands, where rescue teams were searching for survivors on Tuesday, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

The propeller plane carried a pilot and 10 passengers and went down near West Caicos south of the Bahamas on Monday afternoon, the Coast Guard said.

Registration records show the plane is owned by Linea Aerea Puertorriquena Inc, an air courier service that does business as Apele Air. Calls to the company's office in Carolina, Puerto Rico, were not immediately returned.

The plane took off from the Dominican Republic and had been scheduled to stop for fuel in the Bahamas en route to New York, the Coast Guard said.

The pilot made a mayday call as the plane flew near the coast of Providenciales, local media reported.

Search crews had found no wreckage nor signs of survivors by midday on Tuesday.

"The weather was really difficult to search in last night. We had 6- to 8-foot seas, lots of whitecaps and next to zero visibility," said Coast Guard Petty Officer Jennifer Johnson. "It's been clearing up but the seas are still a little rough."

(Reporting by Jane Sutton, editing by Jim Loney)