Two Americans killed when private plane shot down in Peru

From Andrea Koppel
CNN State Department

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A private plane carrying five U.S. citizens was shot down Friday in northeastern Peru, two State Department officials told CNN.

Two people on the plane were killed, including a seven-month-old baby girl, according to the wife of the plane's pilot.

Babbi Donaldson, whose husband, Kevin, was flying the plane, said the Cessna hydroplane carrying a family of four Americans was on the frontier of Brazil and Peru when it was intercepted by a Peruvian military plane.

Donaldson said despite her husbandŐs protests on the radio, the plane was shot at with a machine gun.

She said even after the plane landed on the Amazon River, the military plane continued to fire.

Killed were a 35-year-old woman and her baby daughter. The pilot was seriously wounded, and a 35-year-old man and his six- year-old son were not hurt.

The survivors were taken to a hospital in Iquitos, Peru.

There has been no confirmation from the Peruvian army or department of defense that the plane was a military aircraft.

"Reports are sketchy," explained one of the State Department officials. "There are some indications that the plane might have been shot down by the Peruvian air force."

Another State Department official said "there are several different versions" of the story floating around and the U.S. Embassy in Lima is trying to find out exactly what happened.

The State Department has not filed a protest because, it says, the matter is under investigation.

Claudia Cisneros in Lima, Peru, contributed to this report

US Department of State

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