A plane crash in Papua New Guinea has killed all eight on board just minutes after a remote airstrip was officially opened.
The deputy governor of Madang, Joe Tola, and a former governor, Stahl Musa, are among those who died when the twin-engine Britten Norman Islander crashed shortly after takeoff.
The provincial government delegation had just opened a new airstrip in the Finisterre Mountains and was returning to the provincial capital Madang at the time of the crash.
The inter-government minister, Sir Peter Barter, says soon after takeoff the aircraft slammed into a cliff.
The cause of the crash is yet to be established.
The governor, James Yali, says a funeral programme is yet to be drawn up and a day of mourning will be declared.
