A small plane of South Africa crashed early Friday northwest of Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province, according to the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China.

Around 800 police, firemen and militia are making all-out efforts to search the areas on the southern bank of Dongting Lake.

Body of the South African pilot was found at about 6:30 p.m. Friday by patrol crafts in the Dongting Lake area off the coast of the Miluo City.

The plane disappeared at 28.54 degrees north latitude and 112.55 degrees east longitude, said the air control center at the Huanghua Airport in Changsha.

The plane, an Aquilla, took off at about 10:35 Friday morning from Guilin, a scenic city in south Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, headed for Changsha.

The bad weather in Changsha forced the plane to divert for a landing in Wuhan, capital of neighboring Hubei Province, but it crashed when it was on the route to Wuhan.