Atleast ten US tourists and two pilots killed as A plane crashed in mountains in Costa Rica on Sunday.
The crash, the cause of which is not yet known, took place in the mountainous area of Punta Islita, which is popular with tourists, in the province of Guanacaste, about 140 miles west of the capital of San José.
Enio Cubillo, director of Costa Rica’s civil aviation agency, said those killed included 10 foreign tourists and two Costa Rican pilots.
The aircraft was operated by Nature Air, a local company which could not immediately be reached for comment.
Laura Chinchilla, who was president of Costa Rica from 2010 to 2014, said on Twitter that her cousin was one of the crew members who had died in the accident.
“There are no people alive,” security minister Gustavo Mata said. He added that postmortems would be needed to confirm the total number and identities of victims because their remains were badly burned.
A New York family-of-five are among those killed, with parents Irene and Bruce Steinberg confirmed dead, alongside sons Matthew, William and Zachary.
Laura Chinchilla, who was president of Costa Rica from 2010 to 2014, said on Twitter that her cousin was one of the crew members who had died in the accident.
“It is a private plane with 10 foreign passengers and two local crew members,” a separate security ministry statement said.
>Juthy Saha
