Nando Times

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (April 28, 2001 3:31 p.m. EDT) - The president of the multinational Techint construction group and a top editor at the Argentine newspaper La Nacion were among the eight people killed Saturday in a small plane crash, authorities said.

Agostino Rocca, 56, president of the Buenos Aires-headquartered Techint group, and German Sopena, 54, a prestigious journalist and editor at La Nacion, were killed instantly in the crash, authorities said.

The Cessna 15-seater plane, carrying two crew and eight passengers, had left Don Torcuato, north of Buenos Aires, on an early morning flight Saturday when it crashed in countryside some 120 miles southwest of Buenos Aires. There were no survivors.

The air force said the plane was on a flight to Trelew in southern Argentina at the time. Authorities say the plane was found in cattle and farming country outside the capital, the scene of recent flooding.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), April 29, 2001