QCOSTARICA – A small plane crashed in the early hours of Thursday morning in Palmar Sur de Osa. According to the Ministry of Public Security, two people, a man and a woman died in the crash.
According to the information provided by the Ministerio de Seguridad press office, the crash occurred around 3:15 am.
The first to arrive at the scene were the firefighters, who immediately called the Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) on the discovery of the deceased while attending to the fire.
“When the two firefighting units arrived, they found a small plane, without registration, completely consumed by the fire. Nearby, the bodies of a man and a woman were found. The identities of the deceased are currently unknown. The scene was guarded by personnel from the Public Force and OIJ,” Nelson Bolaños, firefighter in charge of the Palmar Norte station, explained.
The small aircraft was completely disintegrated.
Preliminary versions that are under investigation indicate that, apparently, the aircraft could not take off properly, which caused it to crash into the vegetation and catch fire.
Luis Ortega, regional director of the Fuerza Publica (National Police), stated that at least 54 packages with illegal drugs were found around the plane.
Esteban Obando Ramos, head of the regional delegation of the OIJ in Corredores, stated that they were packages containing cocaine. He also added that at the moment they do not have any data on the plane or the victims.
The plane crash occurred nine kilometers away (by road) from the Palmar Sur airport.
Álvaro Vargas Segura, director of Civil Aviation, said that “for us it is an irregular flight” given that the pilot(s) had not had contact with the air traffic services. The plane could have used a clandestine runway.
Residents of the area, who preferred to keep their identities confidential, for security reasons, said that air movements had been heard in the area for several days and stated that Wednesday afternoon “several vehicles arrived at a business near the landing field.”
