Five people were killed in a plane crash in Argentina’s Chaco province. According to local authorities, the group broke into a hangar yesterday morning and stole the plane, a Cessna 206, with the singleengine plane crashing shortly after takeoff. A gun and notes belonging to Paraguayan Guaranis were found under the rubble.
The origin of the money and a cap belonging to the Cerro Porteño team prompted Argentine police to link the invaders to Paraguay. The bodies have not yet been identified. The plane crashed 7 km from Villa Angela, which borders the neighboring country.
“If (the Cessna) crashed in the city, it would be a tragedy,” police chief Sergio Ríos, who is in charge of investigating the case, told local radio LT7. “We have spoken to the Civil Aviation Accident Investigation Board (JIAAC) and are working to preserve the crash site for assessment and only remove the bodies,” he said.
According to the agency, identifying the bodies is becoming “difficult” as the plane burned out completely after the crash. Despite the lack of names, he assured that the crew responsible for the theft “are not from there”.
Police and firefighters in the Argentine province were informed of the accident by two farm workers who were escorting the plane that was losing altitude.
Rescue teams also found a satellite phone in the wreckage, which allowed the crew to keep in touch with people on the ground during the flight. The device would be a sign of a “certain logistical organization” of the group that stole the plane, which still had to bypass a series of “very sophisticated” alarms to get into the hangar where it was stored.
Despite the elaborate plan, one of the theories considered by police, according to AFP, is that the thieves forgot to activate the Cessna’s complex fuel system for travelers unfamiliar with the model, resulting in a breakdown. dries immediately after leaving the ground.
The fiveseat Cessna 206 was owned by an agribusiness contractor who recently acquired the singleengine aircraft. The market value of the model is estimated at approximately US$1.5 million (approximately R$7.7 million at current prices).
A similar incident was recorded in the same province less than a month ago, on December 25, when a group of five people stole a plane belonging to the flight club from Resistencia, the capital of the Chaco, to take it to Bolivia.