El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said that all the crew members of the crashed plane of the country's Air Force, including the son of the Minister of Defence, had been killed; he expressed condolences to the families of the victims.
"The Armed Forces of El Salvador found the body of the son of Defence Minister Rene Merino Monroy and his comrades among the wreckage of the plane in which they flew," Bukele wrote on Twitter.
He added that the Minister of Defence "personally leads the rescue operation, despite his pain".
The Baron 55 Beechcraft plane of the Salvadorian Air Force crashed in the coastal zone while searching for a yacht with two passengers, which went missing at sea. There were three people on board, including Lieutenant Gerardo Merino, son of the country's defence minister. Pilot Carlos Rodrigo Escobar and Lieutenant Santos Elias Serrano also died in the incident.
The crash occurred about 3 nautical miles off the coast.
Several Air Force helicopters and patrol boats joined the search operation.