Reykjavík, Europe Brief News – A tourist plane is still missing after crashing on a sightseeing trip, media sources revealed.
The aircraft has gone down in the Thingvellir National Park area, 50 kilometres east of the capital Reykjavik.
Four people were on board of Cessna C172 tourist plane including the pilot.
The passengers are from the United States, the Netherlands and Belgium.
The coastguard said the pilot was a local in his fifties while the three foreign passengers were younger.
More than 500 members of Iceland’s Search and Rescue organisation are involved in the search. Boats, divers and two Icelandic Coast Guard helicopters are also in.
The plane took off from the domestic airport in Reykjavik on Thursday for a scheduled two-hour tour.
Officials did not receive any distress signal. However, they believe the plane crashed over Thingvellir National Park, based on “mobile phone data.”
Officials said the aircraft may have crashed over Thingvellir National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site that contains Iceland’s second-largest lake.
“We are basing the search on information gathered from phones and also on air traffic control (ATC) tracking information,” said Asgeir Erlendsson, spokesman for the Icelandic coast guard.
Asgrimur Larus Asgrimsson, head of operations at the Icelandic Coast Guard, told The Associated Press that “cellphone data has given us a reason to narrow the search area down to the Thingvellir area.”
