(The accident occurred in the Campanoz area. Photo by Reuter)
A small aircraft crashed on Thursday near an airfield on Croatia’s northern Adriatic coast, claiming the lives of four people, according to police and reports making rounds on social media.
Emergency services were actively searching for two additional individuals who remained unaccounted for following the crash.
A police statement confirmed that four people died when the plane went down at Campanoz, located on the outskirts of the town of Medulin on Croatia’s Istria peninsula.
The national firefighting association disclosed that the crash occurred near the Medulin sports airfield, with firefighters and emergency medical teams deployed to the scene.
Local media circulated images from the crash site and reported that a search operation was underway for two more people.
According to Croatia’s state broadcaster HRT, the aircraft was registered in Germany and had taken off from Austria with Medulin as its intended destination.
Photographs from the scene captured by AFP showed the wreckage of the plane bearing a German flag on its tail.
Investigators from the national agency responsible for air, maritime, and railway traffic accident investigations were expected to arrive at the scene to commence a formal inquiry into the cause of the crash.