Swiss aviator killed in Ecuador plane crash
According to Ecuadorian civil aviation authorities, a Swiss light airplane pilot was killed on Saturday in a crash in central Ecuador. He was attempting to circumnavigate the world in 20 months.
The Swiss man was the only person on board. The aircraft was making its way from Latacunga in Cotopaxi province to Tabacundo in Pichincha province. The plane had already passed through Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina and Brazil before arriving in Ecuador.
The authorities did not specify the reasons for the accident. However, a friend of the pilot said that the aircraft had crashed into the Cotopaxi volcano that forms a part of the Andes mountain range.
The aircraft was a Slovak-manufactured Aerospool Dynamic WT9, a two-seater, propeller-driven light airplane.
“Search and rescue units are on their way to the accident site to recover the body,” stated the civil aviation authorities.
The Swiss foreign ministry confirmed the death of a Swiss national in Ecuador but refused to divulge further details for privacy reasons.
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