LA PAZ – Both people aboard were killed when a Bolivian air force plane crashed during a training flight in the eastern province of Santa Cruz, media outlets said Friday.

The small plane went down Thursday just 30 minutes after taking off from El Trompillo airfield, El Deber newspaper said.

The instructor and a trainee pilot died in the crash, which came as the aircraft was apparently attempting an emergency landing due to a still-undetermined mechanical problem.

The plane plunged to earth behind a school alongside a major road in the suburbs of Santa Cruz city, Bolivia’s most populous municipality.

Members of an elite law-enforcement unit went to the crash site to coordinate the removal of the bodies.

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