A regional search operation is underway after a small aircraft travelling from St Vincent to Tobago disappeared over the southern Caribbean Sea on Friday.

The missing aircraft, a Dominican Republic-registered Beech 58P Pressurized Baron bearing registration HI-1145, departed Argyle International Airport in St Vincent at 11.52 a.m. bound for the ANR Robinson International Airport in Tobago.

Air traffic controllers lost contact with the aircraft while it was en route, prompting aviation authorities across the region to begin efforts to locate it.