May 19 (UPI) — Four Americans and one Canadian died in a plane crash off the coast of Honduras on Saturday.
The U.S. State Department said four people who died in the crash were U.S. citizens and the U.S. embassy in Honduras’ capital city of Tegucigalpa were providing assistance, while Global Affairs Canada confirmed a Canadian citizen also died, CBS News reported.
Independent Honduran newspaper La Prensa reported that the N260 TM Piper PA-32-260 aircraft crashed off the coast of the island of Roatan shortly after taking off from the airport.
The single-engine plane was reportedly heading to the port city of Trujillo, a popular destination for tourists from the United States Canada and Europe.
Authorities didn’t immediately identify a cause for the incident.
The identities of the U.S. victims weren’t immediately released, but the family of Patrick Forseth confirmed he was the Canadian victim, the CBC reported.
Forseth, who was from British Columbia but lived in Honduras, was a pilot, but it wasn’t immediately clear if he was flying the plane at the time of the crash.
