Lisbon, July 04: A British light plane crashed shortly
after take-off from Cascais, a seaside town 15 kms outside of
Lisbon, killing all four people on board, Portuguese media
reported.
The pilot of the plane, which was on its way to
Portugal's second largest city of Porto, contacted air traffic
control 20 minutes after the aircraft took off at 11:53 am
local time (1523 IST) yesterday to say he would be returning
to Cascais due to the bad weather on the route, the Lusa news
agency reported.
The Portuguese air force said other aircraft reported
poor visibility at the time the British aircraft went missing,
private television station Sic Noticias reported.
The pilot did not make any other attempt to contact air
traffic controllers.
Firefighters found the crashed aircraft yesterday on a
mountain road located just north of Lisbon. Lusa said all four
people on board the aircraft were British citizens.
The plane, which had arrived from Spain earlier
yesterday, was part of a group of 22 light aircraft
transporting Rotarians on a tour of Europe, Lusa said, quoting
a spokesman of Portugal's air traffic authority.
The plane had started its European tour in Britain, Sic
Noticias reported.
Bureau Report
