7 killed in small plane crash in SW Colombia

BOGOTA, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- At least seven people were killed when a small plane crashed on Sunday in a residential district of Popayan, a town in southwest Colombia, officials confirmed.

The aircraft, which belonged to an airline called Transpacifico, crashed shortly after taking off from Payan, capital of Cauca department, Colombia's civil aeronautics agency said in a statement.

According to preliminary reports, the twin-engine Piper PA-31-350, which was headed from Popayan to Lopez de Micay, another city in Cauca, crashed at 2 p.m. local time (1900 GMT) after suffering from mechanical failures.