A private plane crashed in southwestern Turkey, leaving pilot dead and three tourists injured, Anatolia News Agency said Monday.  

The Cessna 172 type airplane crashed 15 minutes after takeoff from Dalaman Airport near Ortaca town in the southwestern province of Mugla, a local official Mehmet Yapici was quoted as saying.

Yapici said that the three injured are Bilge Cetinkaya, director of public relations of the Magic Life Hotel, and two female Australian tourists Julia Peters and Heike Nosslbock, adding they came to the region of Mugla to take photos.

The plane, which belongs to a Turkish company named Sindal Aviation Firm, was bound for Marmaris, a nearby resort in the same province.

(Xinhua News Agency July 27, 2004)