A private plane has crashed in Haiti killing all six people on board including two American missionaries, it is reported.
The plane went down on Friday evening, on a short flight from a Port-au-Prince airport to the southern coastal city of Jacmel, reportedly stated the National Civil Aviation Office
The cause of the disaster was not immediately known but it reported that the plane crashed into a mountain.
The US-based organisation Gospel to Haiti posted an announcement on its Facebook page that two of American members of its group Trent Hostelter, 35, and John Miller, 43, were killed in the crash.
The identities of the other four passengers were not immediately released by officials.
Darwin Hostetler, the principal officer of the mission, told the Miami Herald: “Evidently they encountered trouble, but we haven’t heard what the cause was. They ran into the side of the mountain.”
Hostelter’s wife and three children had taken an earlier flight on a small plane.
It was because there wasn’t enough room on the flight that he stayed behind with Miller to catch the next plane, the group said.
“When the second plane didn’t show up, they were very concerned and soon heard that the plane had gone down somewhere near Leogane,” the group’s Facebook post said.
“A search team was formed and sent out and they located the plane early this morning and confirmed that all 6 people were killed.”
Gospel to Haiti said the group had decided to take a small private plane due to the “unrest” in Port-au-Prince, where violence has spiked in recent weeks as rival groups battle with one another, or the police, for control of the streets. It has led to thousands being displacing and worsened the country’s humanitarian crisis.
A Haitian government representative and the U.S. embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.