WELLINGTON, N.Z. - Officials say a plane carrying 20 people crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff from the French Polynesian island Moorea, killing at least 14 of those on board.
Officials from the local aviation authority and Air Moorea say the Tahiti-bound Canadian-made Twin Otter DHC6 turboprop, carrying 19 passengers and a pilot, went down around noon local time.
Moorea is 16 kilometres from Tahiti, a South Pacific tourist mecca halfway between Australia and California.
The plane carried out regular seven-minute flights between the islands for Air Moorea.
France's high commission on Tahiti says 14 bodies have been recovered.
The aviation authority says no survivors had been found so far.
French navy ships recovered some bodies about two kilometres from Moorea airport and outside the island's lagoon and were searching for survivors, although it was feared there was none, a spokeswoman for the civil aviation authority said on condition of anonymity.
The cause of the crash was not immediately clear and would be investigated, the spokeswoman said.
