20 feared dead in south Pacific plane crash

A light aircraft crashed into the sea after taking off from the French Polynesian island of Moorea, killing at least 14 people.

The Tahiti-bound Twin Otter DHC6 turboprop, carrying 19 passengers and a pilot, crashed into the sea shortly after take-off yesterday, the local company Air Moorea said in a statement.

France’s high commission on Tahiti said 14 bodies had been recovered. The local civil aviation authority said no survivors had been found so far.

French navy ships had recovered some bodies about a mile from Moorea airport and outside the island’s lagoon, and were searching for survivors, although it was feared there were none, a spokeswoman for the civil aviation authority said.

The cause of the crash was not immediately clear.

The island of Moorea is 10 miles from the South Pacific island of Tahiti. The plane carried out regular seven-minute flights between the islands for Air Moorea.

A crisis centre has been set up at the Tahiti airport.