A small plane has crashed in southern Argentina, killing all 22 passengers and crew on board, officials say.

The plane went down in the Patagonian province of Rio Negro, after issuing a distress call, the operating company Sol Airlines said.

Rescuers were sent to the crash site near the town of Los Menucos.

A local hospital director said no one had been found alive and that "everything was destroyed and burned", Argentine media reported.

The plane, a Saab 340 turboprop with capacity for 34 people, was carrying 19 passengers, including a baby, and three crew.

It was on a flight between Neuquen near the Andes to Comodoro Rivadavia.

Wreckage was found some 25km (15 miles) south-west of Los Menucos.

Read More...........
Reproduced under licence from BBC News © 2011 BBC