Crash missing 'have little chance'

Rescue teams have still not located the wreck

Rescue teams say six people still missing after a plane crashed into a north German river have little hope of surviving the icy waters.

Nine people were on board the propellor plane which crashed into the Weser river shortly after take-off from Bremerhaven airport en route to the North Sea island of Wangerooge on Wednesday morning.

Two men and a woman were pulled from the water immediately after the crash.

Both men, one of them the pilot, died shortly afterwards. The woman is in a critical condition in hospital.

Cause unknown

The search resumed on Thursday to locate the wreck of the plane, which is believed to be seven metres under the surface.

"The search is unusually difficult because of the strong current and the depth of the water," said a police spokesman.

Rescuers say there is now little chance that they will pull any of the six missing people, including a child, alive from the 3C cold water.

The cause of the crash is not yet clear.

The airport said it had not received any emergency signals and an eyewitness said there were no signs of smoke or fire coming from the aircraft.

The 57-year-old pilot was an operations manager at Bremerhaven airlines and was considered very experienced.