Galery

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A small training aircraft of the flight school in Paphos, Cyprus, disappeared from radars on Wednesday evening and its remains were found about 40 nautical miles from Larnaca at night. The pilot and one passenger of Greek-Lebanese origin had been travelling on board the aircraft. Both are considered missing for the time being and the rescue operation resumed on Thursday morning. The remains of the aircraft were found by Cyprus ship "Spirit of Piraeus", which immediately responded to the call for help.  

     The aircraft took off from Paphos airport, its destination being Beirut. When it was at an altitude of 9,000 feet and 45 miles far out to sea it made a turn. When the traffic control centre contacted the pilot and asked him if there was a problem, he replied that there was a small problem, but he would deal with it. However, shortly after the end of the conversation, the aircraft descended below 6,500 feet, and disappeared from the radars.
     According to Cypriot newspaper "Fileleftheros", the area in which the aircraft fell coincides with the south line of the zone in which Turkey is carrying out seismic surveys. The publication states that at the time of the crash the Turkish ships were at a good distance, almost 20 nautical miles. The official announcement of the Cypriot Ministry of Defence states that the rescue operation involves the air forces of Israel.