Plane crashes in Bolivia after two hours of flying in circles. It is suspected that the pilots were unconscious

A small plane, a Cessna Citation 550, crashed in Bolivia after spending two hours flying in circles and losing contact with air traffic controllers.

The main suspicion is that the pilot and co-pilot were unconscious during the flight, probably due to cabin depressurization, which would have made the air thinner and, as a consequence, caused them hypoxia.

The device lost communication about 30 minutes after taking off from La Paz airport, north of the city of Cochabamba. Using Flightradar, it is possible to verify that the aircraft started circling in the air for two hours, until it no longer appeared on the radar, which would have coincided with the crash in a forested area.

The Cessna was owned by the current Bolivian Minister for Productive Development, Oscar Mario Justiniano, who was not on board.

Bolivia’s Air Accident and Incident Investigation Directorate has since opened an investigation to determine the causes of the accident.