The pilot and three passengers died when a German small plane crashed in Croatia on Sunday. This was confirmed on Monday by the director general of Croatian civil protection, Damir Trut, and the Bayer Leverkusen air sports club, to which the pilot had belonged. The Cessna machine disappeared from radar screens on Sunday afternoon for unknown reasons on the return flight from Split, Croatia to Leverkusen.
Croatian search teams discovered the wreck on Monday morning. It was found with the help of a drone in a very inaccessible area near Slunj, about 100 km south of Zagreb. The Croatian authorities had previously searched intensively for the plane with around 400 emergency services.
The chairman of the Leverkusen Aviation Club, Reinhard Sablowski, was shocked: “We hoped and feared with the family of the pilot, we gave each other courage and hope in the community of the aviation club. Now our worst fears have been confirmed,” he said.
The German air traffic control search and rescue service reported the disappearance of the Cessna to the air sports club around 1:30 p.m. on Sunday. The machine had previously started in Leverkusen on Thursday for Croatia. The pilot was a very experienced aviator, a “very valued, popular and committed member” of the club, according to the club. The three passengers were acquaintances of the pilot. (dpa)