TOKYO, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- A piece found during a search-and-rescue operation was confirmed Friday to be that of a light aircraft that went missing a day earlier, the transport ministry said.

The ministry said that of the two pieces found by Japan's Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF) in the Pacific Ocean, one of them matches the coloring and lettering of the missing plane.

The single-engine turboprop Cessna 208 went missing on Thursday afternoon over the sea off northeastern Japan, the Japan Coast Guard said.

The small plane, registered in Australia, with a Norwegian man in his 60s aboard, went missing on its way to New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido from an airport in Saipan.

Air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane around 3:30 p.m. local time on Thursday.

The plane was last located over the sea about 120 km east of Miyagi Prefecture's Sendai airport, they said.

Search-and-rescue operations by air and sea were launched after contact was lost with the plane, the coast guard said.

The Japan Coast Guard is currently searching for the Norwegian pilot.

The Japan Transport Safety Board may not investigate the case, however, as the plane lost contact and some of its parts were found outside of Japan's territorial waters, sources close to the matter said Friday.