Santo Domingo, Apr 20 (EFE).– Seven people died Monday in the Bavaro tourist area in the eastern Dominican Republic when the small plane in which they were flying crashed onto a golf course.

Sources at the Dominican Civil Aviation Institute, or IDAC, told Efe on Monday that aboard the plane were four Spanish tourists, two Britons and the Dominican who was piloting the plane, though local media reported that the passengers were seven Russians.

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said in Luxembourg that the accident occurred in the Dominican province of La Altagracia and that two of the fatalities were Spanish.

The head of Spanish diplomacy noted that among the seven victims were two Spaniards and two Bolivians.

The aircraft had taken off from nearby Punta Cana International Airport and was headed for the town of Samana in the northeastern part of the country.

In a communique the Dominican Tourism Ministry lamented the accident and announced that it would provide all the aid that the victims’ families needed.

IDAC technicians and members of the Accident Investigation Commission of the Civil Aviation Board went to the province of La Altagracia, where Bavaro is located, in order to study the details of the accident.

IDAC said the aircraft was a Piper PA-32 with license HI-957. EFE