http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/americas/08/22/venezuela.crash.reut/index.html

Venezuela plane crash kills 25

Sunday, August 22, 2004 Posted: 10:27 AM EDT (1427 GMT)

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- A Venezuelan air force plane carrying three crew members and 22 passengers has crashed in bad weather in central Venezuela, killing all on board, an aviation official said Sunday.

Rescue workers located the wreckage of the twin-prop Short C-23 Sherpa near Mariara, in the foothills of mountains in Carabobo state, west of Caracas, and no survivors were reported, a spokesman for Venezuela's Civil Aviation Search and Rescue Center said.

Air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane Saturday afternoon when it was returning from the Caribbean island of La Orchila, off Venezuela's northern coast.

"We're assuming the accident happened in bad weather," the civil aviation spokesman told Reuters.

The passengers were a mixture of military personnel and civilians, including five children, who had been on a "recreational trip" to Orchila island, the spokesman said.

The Short Sherpa is a military version of the Shorts 360 airliner built by Shorts Brothers PLC of Northern Ireland, which is the European unit of Bombardier Aerospace .