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Guyana launches search for pilot after Cessna plane crash near Brazilian border

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — Special forces were searching dense jungle in a mountainous area of Guyana on Saturday for the pilot of a single-engine plane that crashed near the border with Brazil a day earlier.

The 13-seater Cessna Caravan was declared missing after it failed to land as expected at the gold mining district of Imbaimadai, in southwestern Guyana.

The local civil aviation authority said the pilot was the only person onboard the aircraft, which encountered heavy rain before crashing into a mountainside.

Troops who reached the remote crash area had to climb down into the jungle and cut their way through 100-foot (30-meter) trees to try to locate the pilot, the military said in a statement.

“(The plane) failed to report arrival, prompting a flight progress check,” the statement said, noting that the wreckage was located by other aircraft flying in the area Friday.

The plane is one of dozens serving the South American nation’s vast interior as well as conducting flights to neighboring Brazil, Suriname and the Caribbean.

Beijing bans 4 New Zealand lawmakers from entering China because they visited Taiwan

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Beijing banned four New Zealand lawmakers from traveling to China for a year and demanded they apologize because they visited Taiwan on a parliamentary trip, according to a message from the Chinese embassy conveyed via parliamentary officials and shown to The Associated Press on Thursday. China has hit lawmakers from other countries with sanctions related to contact with Taiwan before, but it's the first time for New Zealand parliamentarians, the government in Wellington said. Beijing has been increasing pressure in recent years on the democratically governed island that it claims as its own territory. Two lawmakers reached by the AP on Thursday rejected the demand for an apology, while the other two could not be immediately reached. New Zealand's government said it would express concern about the travel bans to Beijing. The elected officials visited Taipei in May, as New Zealand parliamentarians have done “for decades,” a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.
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