SIX DIE IN NEW YEAR’S EVE PLANE PLUNGE

A NEW Year’s Eve scenic joy flight turned to tragedy yesterday when a sea plane with six people on board crashed into a secluded bay on the Hawkesbury River.

Police last night confirmed that all five passengers and the pilot on the Sydney Seaplanes flight had died in the crash.

It is believed those on board were four British nationals, an 11-year-old boy and the pilot.

The passengers were returning to Rose Bay in Sydney after having lunch at the secluded Cottage Point Inn.

The drama unfolded at 3.15pm when emergency services, including the Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter, were called to Jerusalem Bay on Cowan Creek following reports of a light plane crash.

A search and rescue operation located the wreckage of the submerged plane.

A Sydney Seaplanes spokesman confirmed the aircraft was one of theirs and said they were working with police on the scene.

Witnesses said the plane nosedived straight into the water soon after takeoff from Cottage Point.

“We saw a sea plane coming towards us about 500m away,’’ Myles Baptiste said.

Commander of the KurungGai Local Area Command, Acting Superintendent Michael Gorman, said the task was now to recover the bodies, confirm the identities of those on board and let their relatives and next of kin know.

He said it was too early to say what caused the plane to crash.

Police divers retrieved all six bodies from the water late last night.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said it was investigating the accident.

It said that about 3pm a DHC-2 Beaver Seaplane, VHNOO, operated by Sydney Seaplanes, was flying in the vicinity of Jerusalem Bay, near Cottage Point.

“The sequence of events leading up to the accident are not yet understood,” it said.

The ATSB’s executive director of transport safety, Nat Nagy, and a team of three of its investigators are travelling to the accident site.

A preliminary report into the accident is expected within 30 days. But a final reportrt into the accident may take up to 12 monthsths to be complet-completed.

The company, which has been operating for 80 years, provides flights above and around some of Sydney’s most popular tourist sites, including the Opera House, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Pittwater and tt h e H a w - kesbury River region. Sydney Seaplanes offers flight and lunch deals for $535 per person. The plane flight back from Cottage Point offers views of Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House before returning to Rose Bay.