Plane Crashes Off French Pacific Island
By RAY LILLY 08.09.07, 9:52 PM ET



WELLINGTON, New Zealand - An airplane carrying 20 people crashed into the sea Thursday after taking off from a French Pacific island, killing some aboard and raising fears that no one survived, an aviation official said.

The Tahiti-bound Twin Otter DHC6 turboprop, carrying 19 passengers and a pilot, went down around noon just off the French Polynesian island of Moorea, said a local Civil Aviation Authority spokeswoman.

"No survivors have been recovered so far," the spokeswoman told The Associated Press by phone from Papeete, Moorea. She spoke on condition of anonymity in accord with the agency's media policy.

She said that French navy ships had recovered some bodies about one mile from Moorea airport and outside the island's lagoon, and were searching for survivors, although it was feared there were none, the spokeswoman said.

The cause of the crash was not immediately clear and would be investigated, the spokeswoman said.

The island of Moorea is 10 miles of the South Pacific island of Tahiti



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