Eleven people were killed on Wednesday when a small plane crashed into the Empakaai Crater, a caved volcanic caldera in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in northern Tanzania.

Charles Mkumbo, Arusha regional police commander, confirmed that the 11 people were heading to the Serengeti National Park from Arusha International Airport Wednesday morning.

The airplane, identified as a Cessna Caravan, belongs to the Coastal Aviation, which said in a statement that the plane carried a single pilot and ten passengers.

The cause of the accident is yet to be established and rescue authorities are heading to the crash site.

This is the second time in a month Coastal Aviation is involved in an accident. On Oct. 26, a small plane owned by the company flying from Arusha Airport to Serengeti National Park crashed near Lobo Airport.

Nickson Nyange, an information officer with Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA), said that rescue authorities were still scaling the 300-meter-high crater to locate the wreckage of the plane.

According to Nyange, the mountainous area normally experiences long spells of fog and bad weather, and it is feared that the pilot may hit one of the craters before plunging into the caldera.

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