THE HAGUE, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Three Dutch nationals were killed on Monday when a light aircraft crashed in western Germany, near the Dutch border, the Dutch Foreign Ministry confirmed late Monday.
The ministry told Dutch public broadcaster NOS that the victims were two men aged 57 and 58, and a 23-year-old woman.
The aircraft took off from a small airfield in Hilversum in the west-central Netherlands at around 10:25 a.m. local time (0825 GMT) before disappearing from radar near Gerderath, a district of Erkelenz in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, at around 11:18 a.m. (0918 GMT) and crashing shortly afterward.
The three victims were reportedly the only people on board. The aircraft was registered with Hilversum Flight School in the Netherlands.
The school management announced the immediate suspension of all flight operations until the cause of the crash has been determined.
The Dutch Safety Board said Monday that two aviation investigators were assisting in the preliminary investigation. ■