A small Cuban plane crashed Thursday in unexplained circumstances, killing 17 people, including Canadian, British and German tourists, Cuban authorities said.
The plane, belonging to state airline Aerotaxi, went down during the afternoon on an air route between the southern coastal town of Cienfuegos and the northern resort island of Cayo Coco, aviation sources said.
A Foreign Ministry official said that according to preliminary information, six Canadians, five Britons, four Cubans and two Germans had died in the crash.
An official at Cuba's Civil Aviation Institute confirmed the crash, although he put the number at "about 14 or 15 people on board" including three crew members and the passengers.
"There was an accident at 4.30 pm(2130 GMT) ... We still have no news of any survivors," the official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters by telephone.
None of the sources could explain why the plane crashed.
The Foreign Ministry official said an official statement on the accident would be issued on Friday morning.
(China Daily March 15, 2002)
