Cessna 208 Caravan Went Down Sunday

A Cessna 208 Caravan departing from Guanacaste in Costa Rica with ten Americans on board went down Sunday resulting in the fatal injury of all 10 passengers and two Costa Rican pilots.

The French news service AFP reports that the airplane had just departed from Guanacaste, a popular tourist and vacation destination on the Pacific Coast. It impacted terrain, and a post-impact fire ensued.

Five of the passengers shared a common last name, according to a list provided to the media, suggesting they might have been a family.

"The government of Costa Rica profoundly regrets the deaths of 10 U.S. passengers and two Costa Rican pilots in the air accident," which occurred in the country's northwestern Guanacaste region, Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solis said in a statement posted to social media.

The U.S. State Department confirmed "the deaths of multiple US citizens in an airplane crash in Costa Rica," adding that assistance was being provided to the affected Americans.

News24.com reports that the plane belonged to Nature Air, which provides charter as well as scheduled service. Solis said that the government would "do everything necessary to work with the relatives of the victims to give them what they need in this difficult moment."

(Image provided by the Costa Rica Ministry of Public Security)

FMI: Original Report