Israeli-Cypriot search finds downed plane
Authorities discover wreckage, bodies of Cypriot and Lebanese men after plane bound for Beirut goes missing
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Two bodies were recovered on Thursday after a small airplane crashed into the sea off Cyprus, official media said.
The wreckage of the Diamond DA42 light aircraft was found about 45 nautical miles (83 kilometers) from Larnaca, on Cyprus’s southeast coast, according to the Cyprus News Agency.
A German and a Brazilian ship were bringing back the wreckage and the bodies of the men — a Greek Cypriot and a Lebanese.
Cyprus and Israel had launched a joint search operation for a small plane that was reported missing Wednesday by Lebanese authorities while en route to Beirut, officials said.
The plane disappeared after taking off from Cyprus en route to Beirut, as the two men were reported to have been on a training flight.
The pilot was said to have turned back after encountering what he described as a “small problem.”
After that, air traffic controllers had tried to reach them by radio on numerous occasions, but received no answer.
The men will be officially identified through DNA sampling once they reach shore, authorities said.
Yiannakis Loizou, chief of Cyprus’s aircraft accidents board, told AP that a German warship attached to a UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon will ferry the wreckage to Cyprus for investigators to begin their probe.
Lebanon and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) had also been involved in the search.
The Times of Israel Community.