By Mahmut Atanur
BEIJING (AA) – Five people have died in western China after a seaplane scheduled to operate a new sightseeing route crashed into a bridge during a trial flight.
China Daily reported the city government as saying that the U.S. Cessna plane had 10 people on board Wednesday when it crashed into the No. 7835 Bridge along the Shanghai-Hangzhou Expressway at 12.20 p.m. (0420GMT) while taking off from Jinshan City beach.
All were rushed to hospital shortly after the crash, with five -- including the co-pilot -- pronounced dead.
One more passenger is reported to be in serious condition, while the others were slightly injured,
The cause of the accident is still under investigation.
The 30 million yuan ($4.48 million) plane was scheduled to operate a new sightseeing route between Zhoushan and the city’s Jinshan District.
It takes about 30 minutes to fly between Jinshan and Zhoushan.