MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolivian Air Force single-engined plane crashes, kills 6

The causes of the crash are still unknown

A Bolivia Air Force single-engined Cessna C-206 crashed Saturday morning in the Amazon region of Pando, killing all six on board, it was reported.

Four of the deceased were officials of the Ministry of Health, according to government sources.

The accident occurred after the aircraft departed from Riberalta in the Beni region for Cobija, the capital of the department of Pando, Bolivian Police Deputy Chief Luis Cuevas explained.

Cuevas added that the aeroplane, registered FAB-320 “crashed into a tree” and fell to the ground near the town of Agua Dulce in Pando.

“We know that in this accident six people have died, we are talking about the pilot and the co-pilot who belong to the Bolivian Air Force, as well as four civilians who belonged to the Ministry of Health,” he went on.

Rescue crews were focused later in the weekend on retrieving the aircraft's black box to establish the causes of the accident.

Three-four Ministry of Health officials killed in the crash worked for the National Institute of Health Laboratories (Inlasa) and one for the vector control program.

“We are dismayed,” President Luis Arce said on social media.

The casualties were identified as Carla Romero Pérez (Vector Control); Inlasa's José Jorge Aruni (medical doctor) and Erika Mercad and Walter Delgado (technicians) in addition to FAB Captain Freddy Suárez Téllez and Lieutenant Jhon Clinton Mariaca.

“We have instructed the corresponding authorities to clarify the causes of the incident. We express our condolences to the families of the victims,” Arce also said.