A small plane belonging to the airline Aerocon crashed on Sunday in a town in Bolivia's Amazon when it tried to land during an intense storm, local media reported.
According to first reports quoted by newspaper Vanguardia, rain and bad weather caused the accident in which at least eight people lost their lives and ten more were injured, two of them seriously.
The same source revealed that the accident took place at around 15:45, local time (19:45 GMT), close to the landing strip in the town of Riberalta, in the Bolivian Amazon jungle, the destination of the plane travelling from Trinidad, capital of the department of Beni.
Although so far there are no detailed reports on the causes of the accident, Nelson Kinn, spokesman for Aerocon, detailed that the plane, a twin-engine Fairchild Metro 23, tried to land in Riberalta's domestic airport, close to the border with Brazil.
Quoted by Mexican newspaper Milenio, Kinn told Bolivian media that "when it landed and the plane touched the ground, there was some sort of problem that caused a fire".
According to information published by the BBC, the people of Riberalta approached the crash site to try to help, but were stopped by the fire inside the plane.
Of the 16 people on the plane, only 10 could be rescued, while the eight fatal victims of the accident have not been yet identified.
The President of Bolivia ordered an investigation on the accident
The President of Bolivia, Evo Morales, expressed his solidarity with the families of the victims and warned that there would be "drastic sanctions" against Aerocon if there were any irregularities which led to Sunday's accident.
According to Milenio, Morales, in a press release quoted by the state's news agency, ABI, has asked for a "deep investigation" to determine the cause of the accident.
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