Seven Die As Venezuelan Parachute Plane Crashes

CARACAS (Reuters) - Seven people died on Saturday when a light plane carrying parachute students plunged into the Caribbean near the Venezuelan coast, local media reported. A Cessna 206 aircraft was carrying the amateur parachutists on a pleasure trip on Saturday afternoon near the tourist resort of Higuerote, 70 miles east of Caracas, when it went down.

A private medical company, Elimedical, recovered the dead, apparently mostly Venezuelans, from the sea.

Officials said it was unclear what caused the single-motor plane to fail.

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