Penn Student, Family Among 12 Killed In Costa Rica Plane Crash
COSTA RICA (AP/CBS) -- A University of Pennsylvania student was among the 12 people killed on a small plane crash in Costa Rica on Sunday.
University officials have confirmed William Steinberg, a University of Pennsylvania freshman,and his family were also killed.
Officials confirm 5 of the 10 Americans killed in the flight that went down in Costa Rica had close ties to the Philadelphia area.
The state department confirmed the December 31st crash claimed the lives of physicians Mitchell Weiss, Leslie Weiss and their two teenage children. The family relocated from Plymouth Meeting to Belleair Florida in 2005.
Officials also confirmed say, William Steinberg, a university of Pennsylvania freshman,and his family were also killed.
Costa Rica's civil aviation say,the the nature air flight headed to San Jose went down in a wooded area in Punta Islita moments after taking off near by.
We're learning new details about a deadly plane crash in costa rica that killed ten americans -- and two crew members.
Five of the victims are all from one family.
One of them -- William Steinberg -- was a current student at the university of Pennsylvania.
A small plane crash Sunday in northwest Costa Rica killed 12 people, including 10 US citizens, officials said.
The single-engine turboprop's two Costa Rican pilots also died in the crash, President Luis Guillermo Solis Rivera said in a statement posted on social media. There were no survivors.
Costa Rica's Ministry of Public Security posted several images of the wreckage on its official Facebook page, showing the plane engulfed in flames in a wooded area, with smoke billowing from charred rubble.
It was not immediately clear what caused the crash, which occurred early Sunday afternoon in Nandayure, a region in Costa Rica's Guanacaste province.
Authorities said they were focusing on recovering the victims' bodies and would begin an investigation into the cause of the crash first thing Monday.
Costa Rica's President expressed his condolences on Twitter.
"The government vows to do everything necessary to help the victims' family members in whatever they need in this difficult moment and sends them the solidarity of all the Costa Rican people," Solis said.
The private aircraft, a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan registered as TI-BEI, was part of Nature Air's fleet, officials said. Officials from the airline could not be immediately reached for comment.
One of the pilots who died in the crash was the cousin of Costa Rican ex-President Laura Chinchilla, the former leader said on her Twitter account.
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