Two dead in plane crash
Two people were killed yesterday when a single-engine training aircraft crashed just a few minutes after takeoff in the area of Kopaida, in the prefecture of Viotia, north of Athens. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) confirmed the deaths of the 42-year-old pilot and the 35-year-old trainee, both Athenians, in the early afternoon. The plane took off shortly after 2 p.m. from the airstrip of a small aviation club in Kopaida and went down just a few minutes later after reaching an altitude of 150 meters, CAA officials said. The aircraft crashed near the village of Kastro but at some distance from residential areas. CAA officials were examining the site of the crash and the wreck of the aircraft yesterday afternoon, in a bid to determine the cause of the accident. Last month, two Israeli nationals died when their light aircraft crashed into the slopes of Mount Ainos on the Ionian island of Cephalonia.