Volcanic gases hamper plane crash recovery

Hot volcanic gases have forced recovery crews in Costa Rica to suspend their efforts to reach the wreckage of a plane that crashed into a volcano in the north of the country.

Eight tourists and two crew were killed when the plane, operated by a local Costa Rican airline, SANSA, crashed head on into the Arenal volcano shortly after take off on Saturday.

A spokesman said a special team would be needed to recover the bodies because of the toxic gasses and climatic conditions.

The Arenal volcano erupted last Wednesday, and the area near the plane crash is still littered with lava and volcanic rocks. The passengers who were killed were from Italy, Switzerland, the United States and Canada.

Both crewmen were from Costa Rica.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service

*** PROBLEM: MORE THAN 28 WORDS IN SUMNARY ***