Plane crashes off Sicily, at least 10 dead

PALERMO, Sicily - At least 10 people were killed and 14 injured when their Tunisair charter flight crashed into the sea near Sicily after reporting a technical fault.

The chief magistrate on the island off Italy's southern tip put the death toll at 14 and said five people were missing.

The pilot of the plane, an ATR 72 carrying 39 people to Tunisia, made a distress call to Palermo airport at 3.24pm Saturday (1.24am NZT Sunday), requesting to make an emergency landing, Italy's civil aviation authority said.

The plane landed about 19km out at sea at 3.40pm and shortly afterwards survivors were seen on the wings of the floating plane.

Survivors brought to shore at Palermo were seen being helped out of rescue launches, many with bloody faces and ripped clothes, some yelling in pain. The port was milling with ambulances while helicopters buzzed overhead.

"It is definitely a very serious incident," Vito Riggio, head of civil aviation authority ENAC told Italian television.

"They asked to land at Punta Raisi (Palermo's airport), but they didn't make it. The pilot said he would try a sea landing but was unable to. This is very unusual, and very traumatising." Sky Italia TV reported that the pilot said he did not have enough engine power to make a proper emergency landing.

A Tunisian government official told Reuters by telephone that 24 of 35 passengers survived the crash.

They were all Italians on their way from Bari in south-eastern Italy to the island of Djerba in Tunisia, a popular holiday resort, on flight TUI 1153, operated by Tunisair's charter arm Tuninter.

ATRs are made by Avions de Transport Regional, based in France. The ATR 72 can carry up to 72 passengers.

An ENAC official said the plane had passed safety inspections in Italy, with its most recent checks carried out in March.

ATR is jointly owned by France's EADS and Alenia Aeronautica, a division of Italy's Finmeccanica

- REUTERS