22 killed in Argentine air crash

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - A turboprop plane carrying 22 people crashed and exploded in Argentina's southern Patagonia region, killing all aboard.

Sol Lineas Aereas said Wednesday's Flight 5248, carrying three crew members and 19 passengers, including a baby, communicated an emergency while flying from Neuquen near the Andes to Comodoro Rivadavia along the coast of Patagonia.

The company confirmed that the wreckage was found about 15 miles southwest of the town of Los Menucos and that local firefighters and police found no one alive.

"Unfortunately there are no survivors. We see burned remains, everything burned," Ismael Ali, who directs the hospital in Los Menucos, told the Todo Noticias channel.

Sol vice president Juan Nyffenegger said in Buenos Aires that the twin-engine Saab 340 had taken off normally and had no records of technical problems. The plane was relatively modern, built in the late 1980s, and the pilots were quite experienced, he added.

Sol said it received an emergency communication from the plane at 8:50 p.m. local time, nearly halfway into the flight from Neuquen near the Andes to Comodoro Rivadavia along the coast of Rio Negro province.

The plane crashed and exploded on the rural property of a man who then drove into the town of 4,000 to alert authorities.

Sol is based in the northern Argentine city of Rosario and generally serves smaller cities in the provinces. A passenger list released by the airline said nearly all had Argentine residency or citizenship.