A single-engine propeller plane carrying four people crashed into a mountain on Saturday in central Japan, with all the passengers apparently hurt including two who were unconscious, police and the transport ministry said.
The crash occurred around 3 p.m. in the town of Tateyama, Toyama Prefecture, when the Cessna 172P was traveling from Toyama airport to Matsumoto airport in neighboring Nagano Prefecture during what appeared to be a training flight, they said.
The police said they received an emergency phone call from a man believed to be one of the passengers on the crashed plane.
"Four people were hurt. Two are unconscious and two (others) are conscious," the man was quoted by the police as saying.
The four on board the aircraft were pilot Takao Kinoshita, 57, Eiji Oguchi, 48, Kazuki Higuchi, 22, and Katsuki Kasai, 21.
The crash occurred near the border with Nagano. The site is near Kurobe Dam, a popular tourist destination.
The police have not yet located the crash site partly due to thick fog.
The plane, owned by New Central Airservice Co., headquartered in Ibaraki Prefecture, was flying in poor weather conditions near the site, according to a local railway company. New Central Airservice said that Kinoshita is a veteran pilot with 35 years of experience.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism said the plane left Toyama airport at 2:23 p.m. and was scheduled to arrive in Matsumoto airport in about an hour.
