[UPDATE] Two tourists from Belgium died in crash of Cessna plane in Iceland lake

The Icelandic Coast Guard is looking for a missing Cessna 172M Skyhawk plane with four people on board: the pilot and three tourists. Two of them are from Belgium, but they do not have Belgian nationality, said the Belgian Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs to newspaper HLN.

The plane had departed Reykjavik airport at 10:30 on Thursday and was flying over the Golden Circle, a popular tourist attraction in the country. The four-seat, single-engine aircraft was last spotted west of Úlfljótsvatn lake at 11:45.

“The flight conditions were good. We have not received any distress or warning messages from the aircraft,” said Asgeir Erlendsson, spokesman for the Icelandic Coast Guard

According to the Icelandic newspaper Morgunblaðið, the pilot is experienced. He runs his own company (Volcano Air Iceland). He is also president of AOPA, an advocacy group for pilots and aircraft owners in Iceland, and the editor of an aviation magazine.

Two helicopters from the Icelandic Coast Guard took part in the search yesterday, as well as an aircraft from the Royal Danish Air Force and about 500 rescuers. Boats and divers also search with them. They have to comb a difficult and snowy area in the southwest of the island.

Based on cell phone data and tracking data from the aeroplane, the decision was made to focus the search on Þingvallavatn lake, the second largest lake in Iceland, 50 kilometres east of Reykjavik. The search continued until 03:00 and resumed at 08:00 this morning.

Source: mbl.is Iceland Monitor and HLN

UPDATE 6 February

Authorities in Iceland have found the plane at the bottom of a lake two days after the aircraft went missing with three tourists and a pilot on board, police said on Saturday.

The three tourists on the Cessna 172N plane – who departed for a sightseeing tour on Thursday – were from Belgium, the Netherlands and the United States. The Dutch 27-year-old man was living in Belgium. The Belgian victim is Nicola Bellavia, an explorer from Lasne, Walloon Brabant.

Iceland’s coastguard said in a statement the plane crashed into Lake Thingvallavatn some 40 km east of the capital, Reykjavik, and was located with the help of an unmanned submarine.