A small plane crashed on Velika Planina, a plateau in northern Slovenia, on 10 March, hitting a mountain lodge. Media report that there was one person on board the four-seater.

The aircraft took off from Zagreb in the morning. The pilot was in contact with Slovenian air controllers but air control lost contact with him sometime after 8am.

Rescue teams found parts of the plane at around 12:30pm but have not located the cockpit yet. The police said the search efforts were hindered by bad weather and poor visibility.

It is not clear why the plane lost contact with air control, the police said.

According to information obtained by the 24.ur news portal, the accident very likely happened because of spatial disorientation in bad weather. The plane started descending from the altitude of 2.5 km in a spiral shape, the portal wrote.

The Infrastructure Ministry told the Slovenian Press Agency that the air, marine and railway accident and incident investigation unit has been notified and is ready to get on the site as soon as the aircraft is located.

Data by the Flightradar24 app shows that the plane was a Piper Mooney Ovation M20R. According to 24.ur it was registered in the US. The news portal zurnal24.si reported the plane was allegedly headed for Switzerland.