S P O T L I G H T

US singer Aaliyah dies in plane crash
Miami, August 26
Aaliyah, a US singer and actress, was killed along with seven other persons yesterday when a small Cessna passenger plane bound for Miami crashed and burst into flames shortly after taking off from an island in the Bahamas, the police said early today. Superintendent Basil Rahming of the Grand Bahama police department named the 22-year-old star as one of the eight persons, all US residents, killed in the crash at the small airport at Marsh Harbour, the main town in the Abaco islands. The singer, whose full name was Aaliyah Haughton, was returning to the USA after completing the filming of a music video in the Abaco islands, about 270 km east of south Florida. Reuters

Singer Aaliyah, seen arriving at the 2000 MTV Movie Awards in Los Angeles in this June 3, 2000 file photo, died aboard a Cessna passenger plane that crashed late Saturday, while leaving the Bahamas bound for Miami. — Reuters photo