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Plane stolen from airport in Belize crash lands; pilots die

An aircraft used by a domestic airline in Belize was reportedly stolen by armed thieves as part of what the police has described as a foiled narco trafficking operation early Monday morning.
 
Belizean authorities say a security guard at the airport was accosted and tied up before two men took command of a single-engine plane.
 
Shortly after lift-off, the plane clipped a lamppost and crash landed in bushes nearby, bursting into flames.
 
The authorities were then alerted.
 
Both men were trapped inside the aircraft, with heat barring first responders from nearing the landing site. They perished in the blaze.
 
The Cessna Caravan turboprop aircraft was valued at approximately US$3 million.
 
An Argentinean passport was recovered from one of the deceased men believed to be narcotics traffickers.
 
The Belize Civil Aviation says the plane appeared suspicious because it was outside of operational hours and was not a commercial flight.  


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