Papua New Guinea plane crash kills eight

A plane making an inaugural flight from a Papua New Guinea airstrip slammed into a cliff minutes after takeoff, killing all eight on board, officials said.

The deputy governor of Madang province was among those killed when the twin-engine Britten Norman Islander crashed, said Peter Barter, a member of Prime Minister Michael Somare’s government.

The accident followed the opening of a new airstrip in the rugged Finisterre Mountains about 310 miles north east of the national capital Port Moresby.

The plane was heading to the provincial capital, Madang, when it ploughed into the cliff, Mr Barter said. The cause of the crash was not immediately known.