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UPDATE 1-Brazil plane crash kills 14, including children

Sat May 23, 2009 5:09pm EDT

(Updates with death toll, details)

Stocks  |  Congo  |  Brazil

SAO PAULO, May 23 (Reuters) - A private plane crashed in Brazil's northeastern state of Bahia, killing 14 people, including four children, the Brazilian air force said on Saturday.

The twin-engine plane was coming from Sao Paulo and crashed late on Friday about 450 miles (730 km) from Salvador in Bahia state, near a luxury resort.

An air force spokesman said there was no report of survivors. The plane was owned by Roger Wright, owner of financial consulting firm Arsenal Investimentos, according to local media. Wright, his wife and two children were on board, local websites reported.

The cause of the crash was not known. The air force said the plane's black box was found and was being analyzed.

An Arsenal Investimentos spokesman would not confirm who was on board.

A spokeswoman at Brazil's National Civil Aviation Agency said the plane, a King Air B350, had been inspected and that its documents were in order.

Brazil had two major plane crashes in 2006 and 2007, raising concerns about the safety of air travel in Latin America's largest country.

In July 2007, all 187 people on board and 12 people on the ground died when a TAM airline Airbus A 320 overshot a runway at Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport.

In September 2006, a Gol airline passenger jet crashed in the Amazon jungle after it and a small private plane collided. All 154 people on board died. (Reporting by Inae Riveras and Ana Nicolaci da Costa; Editing by Peter Cooney)



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