3 feared dead as plane crashes in Lebanon

A small training aircraft with three people onboard crashed today in Lebanon’s mountainous Keserwan district, north of the capital Beirut, aviation sources said, Reuters reports.

Initial reports suggested the pilot and two passengers were killed, the sources said.

The Cessna 172 plane belonged to flight training firm Open Sky Aviation and had taken off from Beirut airport at 1.30pm local time (10:30GMT) before crashing 20 minutes later in the village of Ghosta.

“It was very foggy in the area … the airplane hit rocks above a house,” Ziad Maalouf, who was in the area and heard the crash, said. “After hearing the bang we ran out and we saw the remains of people.”

Open Sky could not immediately be reached for comment.

The minister of public works was at the airport and an official statement was expected soon.

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