Plane bound for Algeria disappears off Spanish coast
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The Associated Press
MADRID, Spain
(October 10, 2001 07:47 p.m. EDT ) - Officials said a chartered plane bound for Algeria with 10 people on board - eight of them Americans - disappeared off the eastern coast of Spain on Wednesday.
The plane carried eight Americans and two Spanish crew members, said Deborah Glasmann, press attache of the U.S. consulate in Barcelona. She declined to provide identities and hometowns.
The plane, which belonged to the company Flight Line, vanished on its way from the northeastern city of Barcelona to the Algerian city of Oran, said a spokeswoman for Spain's Ministry of Development, which is in charge of transportation.
The plane dropped off radar screens around 10:40 a.m. near the Columbretes Islands off the eastern Spanish coastal city of Castellon. In the last contact, the pilot asked for a change of route because of bad weather, the ministry spokeswoman said.
Spanish air force rescue teams called off their search for the plane because of darkness and were set to resume the search Thursday morning.
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