Two dead after lightplane crash

RAGLAN: Emergency workers at the scene of a fatal plane crash in Raglan have retrieved two bodies but the mangled wreckage was about to be swamped by the incoming tide last night.

Two people died after a light plane crashed on to Kaitoke Estuary mudflats on the outskirts of Raglan yesterday afternoon.

Emergency services were called to the incident shortly after 3.20pm.

Waikato western area commander Inspector Andrew Mortimore confirmed the two occupants of the plane had died in the crash and their bodies were removed this afternoon.

‘‘Police are working to identify the deceased and notify nextofkin.

‘‘A number of witnesses have already been spoken to, and police will take statements from others in the coming days.’’

The plane was now in the care of the Civil Aviation Authority.

The two bodies were retrieved just before 6pm.

Earlier, firefighters carried stretchers to the crash site before removing the bodies.

The stretchers were also used to transport parts of the aircraft’s wreckage back up to a nearby embankment for investigators to examine.

Prior to the plane being surrounded by water, forensic staff had to stand on its wings to examine the wreck.

Several firefighters combed the wetland and surrounding grassy area for evidence linked to the crash.

Raglan resident Thomas Malpass said he witnessed the aftermath of the crash.

‘‘It is a pretty grim scene. Some citizens were first on the scene, they managed to get across the farmland, but there was not much they could do.

‘‘The people in there were obvi ously deceased.’’

One of the men who reached the crash site said he was unable to describe what sort of plane it was and said it was a ‘‘mangled wreck’’.

A group of trainee pilots saw the plane performing a manoeuvre before they lost sight of it.

They thought it was a strange manoeuvre to perform at the low altitude it was flying.

Nearby resident Joy Utting said she was folding washing in her bedroom, overlooking the Kaitoke Estuary, when she heard a hissing noise.

‘‘It sounded like a gas canister. It must have been from the impact hitting the ground.’’

She said she ran outside, looking up and down the street before spying the wreckage across from her property.

‘‘There were these people running over to help . . . but their body language told what was happening straight away, that it wasn’t good.’’ — NZME