Plane goes down in sea off Sicily

A Tunis Air passenger plane went down in the sea today off the Sicilian coast on a flight from Bari, Italy, to Tunisia, the Palermo airport tower said.

“It landed in the sea,” tower official Vito De Blasi said.

Alberto Pellegrino, a spokesman for the air traffic safety agency ENAV said rescuers were on their way to the craft.

The plane had 35 passengers on board. Their fate is not yet clear.

The Italian news agency ANSA said there were at least eight survivors.

Palermo fire department officials said there were survivors, but could not say how many.

“The plane had engine problems and was trying to land in Palermo and had to land in the sea,” Nicoletta Tommessile, a spokeswoman for ENAV, said.

She said the plane contacted Rome airport tower officials at 3.24pm (1.24pm Irish time) to report engine trouble and saying it would have to land at Palermo’s airport.

Sixteen minutes later, the plane’s crew told tower officials: “We’re ditching in the sea,” Tommessile said.

Coast guard officials in Palermo said rescue efforts were under way.

The television channel said the coastguard spotted two people standing on a wig and waving for help.

Pellegrino said the ATR-72 went down about 13km (8 miles) off the coast near Palermo.

An Italian news agency reported at least five people died. Fire officials said at least 22 people survived.

Coast guard and fire department officials said they could not immediately confirm the reports of dead. The rescued people were in shock, said fire official Giovanni Sacconi.