VALLETTA: A light aircraft believed to be carrying officials from EU border agency Frontex crashed shortly after take-off from Malta on Monday, killing at least five people, airport sources and witnesses said. The Times of Malta said the plane had been leased from Luxembourg for use by Frontex officials. There was no immediate news on the nationality of the victims.

Sources said the small plane was heading towards Libya’s coast to monitor migrant trafficking routes and crashed soon after taking off from Malta’s airport.

Airport officials said the plane had been heading for Misrata in Libya, where some Western powers have sent small teams of special forces to support the new UN-backed unity government in its fight against Islamist militants.

The twin-prop Fairchild Metroliner went down near the runway of the southern Mediterranean island nation’s main airport in the morning, sending smoke billowing into the sky. Malta International Airport was closed for several hours.

On board were three French defence ministry officials and two pilots, who were also French. France’s defence ministry and Luxembourg-based CAE Aviation, which operated the plane, said the five died. CAE said it was an accident but gave no details.

“A light reconnaissance aircraft ... carrying out surveillance operations over the Mediterranean for the defence ministry crashed this morning at 0630 at Malta’s Luqa airport, during take-off,” Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said. The French daily Le Monde wrote that the defence ministry officials belonged to France’s intelligence services.

The Maltese government initially said the flight was part of a customs operation France has been conducting for the last five months, tracking human trafficking and drug smuggling. But French customs said they had no personnel on board.

The remains of all five victims were found, the Maltese government said, and inquiries were under way to determine what had happened.

Published in Dawn October 25th, 2016