The plane took off from Maribor, Slovenia, in the direction of the Croatian Adriatic town of Pula. It crashed in the Mali Makovnik forest area on Mount Kapela, about 90 kilometers southwest of the capital Zagreb as the crow flies.
The bodies of the pilot and two passengers were found in the completely burned-out wreckage of the Cirrus SR20 aircraft. It is possible that the fuel on board ignited during the flight, speculated the chief aviation inspector Danko Petrin.