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Crash of a Cessna in Croatia: The police blocked the roads to the accident site
Photo: IMAGO/Kristina Stedul Fabac/PIXSELL / IMAGO/Pixsell
When a German small plane crashed in Croatia on Sunday, the pilot and three passengers died.
This has now been confirmed by the general director 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 using a drone in a very inaccessible area near Slunj, about 100 kilometers south of Zagreb.
The Croatian authorities had previously searched intensively for the plane with around 400 emergency services.
Pilot had three friends with him
The chairman of the Leverkusen Aviation Club, Reinhard Sablowski, was shocked.
“We hoped and feared with the pilot's family, we gave each other courage and hope in the community of the air sports club.
Now our worst fears have been confirmed,' he said.
The pilot was a very experienced pilot, a "very valued, popular and committed member" of the club.
The three passengers were acquaintances of the pilot.
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.
ptz/dpa
