BELLINGHAM – A team from the Washington State Department of Transportation was headed for the Bellingham Municipal Airport on Saturday evening to coordinate search operations after a Piper aircraft was reported missing near Mount Baker earlier that day, acoording to a WSDOT press release.

WSDOT was alerted to an emergency beacon, and family members reported the Bellingham-area man had not returned from his trip to take photos of Mount Baker.

A crew from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island was in the air searching for the missing aircraft on Saturday evening. No further information was available.