The Cypriot plane en route to Beirut, that went missing over the Mediterranean Sea Wednesday was crashed in the sea with two people abroad were killed, Cypriot Defense Minister said Thursday.

The Cypriot plane en route to Beirut, that went missing over the Mediterranean Sea Wednesday was crashed in the sea with two people abroad were killed, Cypriot Defense Minister said Thursday.

Search-and-rescue teams from Cyprus, Lebanon and Israel discovered the single-engine Cessna plane's debris approximately 80 kilometres south-east of Larnaca, near the area where the aircraft disappeared from radar on Wednesday night, Christoforos Fokaides said.

The rescue operation involved two Cypriot Coast Guard vessels and a helicopter, as well as two Israeli military aircraft and one Lebanese aircraft.

The plane, which took off from Paphos Airport on the island's western coast, belongs to a pilot training school, Griffon Aviation, based in Paphos.

Two men, a Cypriot and a Lebanese national, were on board. Lebanese broadcaster LBCI said the captain contacted the airport in Cyprus informing them of a technical problem at 7:20 pm (1620 GMT), two minutes before the plane disappeared. There was no response after that from the pilot.