Two dead, crews battle blaze after fiery Gold Coast plane crash
A plane has crashed near an airfield, killing two people and igniting a bushfire that is being fought by multiple emergency crews.
Two people have been killed in a light plane crash at a regional airport that sparked a bushfire.
Emergency crews rushed to Jacobs Well Airfield, north of the Gold Coast, after the aircraft went down in nearby bushland about 6am on Tuesday.
The 73-year-old pilot from Beenleigh and a male passenger believed to be from Sydney died after the aircraft crashed soon after take off at the Jacob Wells site, police said.
They were the only occupants of a single-engine plane that was headed for a town near Tamworth, in NSW.
The wreckage caught alight on impact, sparking a fire in bushland about 500 metres from the airstrip.
A large plume of smoke can be seen kilometres from the crash site, where about a dozen emergency services crews are on the scene.
The plane is believed to have gone down in thick bushland, making access difficult for the ambulance, police and fire crews.
Water bombers have been called in to assist crews working to contain the large bushfire, which is burning through nearby cane paddocks and vegetation.
SES crews were also helping by ferrying resources, including forensic equipment, across a creek to the crash site, police said.
Stay informed, daily
Police said it was too early to speculate on the cause of the crash.
“That crash has been so significant that both occupants were unable to survive,” Superintendent Brett Jackson said on Tuesday.
The pilot’s flight history will be probed as part of the investigation into the planned flight at the private airstrip.
– AAP
