There were no survivors among the 12 passengers and two pilots aboard a small passenger airplane that crashed into a mountain just south of the capital of Honduras early today.
Three Americans were among the fatalities, CNN reported.
The Let L-410 aircraft, operated by Central American Airways, crashed about
8am, according to the Honduran civil aviation department. The airline is not affiliated with a US airline with the same name.
The plane had taken off from the northern city of San Pedro Sula with a destination of Toncontin International Airport in Tegucigalpa. Once cleared for landing, the pilots began descending toward the airport, at which time communication with the control tower was lost, the department said.
Rescuers were alerted, and the crash site was located south of Tegucigalpa at the top of a mountain, near the town of Santa Ana.
As of this morning, rescuers had retrieved the remains of 10 people from the wreckage and said another three bodies remained trapped, said a spokesman for the fire department. One of the pilots survived the crash but died on the way to the hospital, he said.
A cause for the crash had not been determined, the civil aviation officials said. The incident is under investigation.
