5 dead after small plane crashes into soda truck in Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A small plane crashed Wednesday in the bustling Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, killing at least five people and injuring several others, authorities said.

The plane was headed to the southern coastal city of Jacmel when it tried to land in the community of Carrefour and hit a truck transporting soda bottles, said Pierre Belamy Samedi, a police commissioner for that region.

He told The Associated Press that the truck driver was among the dead.

Samedi said the pilot was taken to the hospital, but his condition was not immediately known. He said a total of five people were aboard the plane.

Haiti’s National Civil Aviation Office identified the plane as a Cessna 207. No further details were immediately available.

Prime Minister Ariel Henry tweeted that he was saddened by the crash and offered his sympathies to the relatives of those who died.

The incident comes nine months after a small private plane also headed to Jacmel crashed near Port-au-Prince, killing six people, including two U.S missionaries.

The use of small planes to travel from Port-au-Prince to communities south of it has grown more popular following a spike in kidnappings and gang violence, especially in the Martissant area, which connects the capital to Haiti’s southern region.