Rescuers brave storm to save two people after plane plunges into sea

The Salt Air Cessna was winched ashore at Cable Bay. Picture / Frank Weber

Two people in a plane which crashed into the sea yesterday were pulled to safety by rescuers who braved a storm to drag the survivors to shore.

A third person on the low-flying light aircraft was killed.

The aircraft made a steep turn before plunging into the sea off Cable Bay in the Far North.

The two badly injured survivors tried to swim to safety, and were helped ashore by locals, including a tourist who dashed fully clothed into the waves.

The Salt Air Cessna, with a pilot and a Swiss married couple on board, was on a scenic flight from the Bay of Islands to Cape Reinga.

It hit bad weather and low cloud about 2.30pm and crashed about 100m off Cable Bay beach, north-east of Kaitaia.

The pilot and the woman passenger survived.

The pilot has a serious head injury and the woman a spinal injury.

Both were airlifted by the Northland Electricity rescue helicopter to Whangarei Hospital.

Soon after the crash, two groups of people - one looking after the pilot and the other caring for the woman passenger - braved wind and rain on the beach just above the tideline while police and rescue workers organised more help and towed the wrecked aircraft ashore.

The body of the dead man, thought to be in his 50s, lay covered further along the beach.

The Herald understands that the pilot was Simon van den Burg.

"We watched the plane going from north to south, up and down," said Trish Burton.

"Our house is on the hill and it was flying lower than us. I was worried that if it turned to come inland it might not clear the hill."

Her husband, Richard, said the aircraft was just off the sea before it made a steep, left turn.

"Then it went straight in with a big splash," Mr Burton said.

"We called 111 as soon as it went in. I think the pilot might have been trying to land on the beach. There was nil visibility."

Northland Fire Service volunteer issues officer Colin Kitchen said a volunteer firefighter saw the plane circle low, head along the coast, then nosedive into the sea.

Indian tourist Gurmeet Singh ran fully clothed into the sea with several others.

"We brought out one man who had severe head injuries," he said.

"He said he was the pilot. He got out of the wreckage. Most of his scalp was gone but he was still conscious."

Mr Singh and others comforted the man on the beach while they waited for emergency services.

Salt Air manager Grant Harnish said the pilot had been with the company for about six months.

The flight left for Cape Reinga at 1.40pm, and the pilot had phoned the Paihia charter and air work company saying the weather was bad and that he was turning back.

"The weather further up north was fine and it was good down here," Mr Harnish said.

"It was just a very bad patch in the middle."

Salt Air has been operating 12 years, and offers tourists "the scenic flight of a lifetime" for around $345 a person.

The Cape Reinga tour involves flying to an airstrip at Cape Reinga then sightseeing by car before flying back to the Bay of Islands.

It was raining, with low misty cloud and wind, at Cable Bay when the aircraft went down.

Two fire engines arrived soon after the crash and Mangonui volunteer firefighters took an inflatable rescue boat to the wreckage to see if anyone was inside.

 

Firefighters then tied a rope to the wreckage and winched it to shore.

"Those guys did a magnificent job to go out there in atrocious conditions, pull the man out of the wreck and bring him back onto the beach," Mangonui senior constable Shaun Palmer said.

The tangled wreck of the Cessna was taken from the beach last night.

Inspectors and investigators from the Civil Aviation Authority and the Transport Accident Investigation Commission will examine the wreckage in Mangonui today.

Sports broadcaster Murray Deaker was driving past the scene when the crash occurred.

He said that when he arrived, the survivors were being placed on stretchers.

Emergency service staff and locals were getting on with the job.

"It was done in an extremely orderly way. It was magnificent to watch the co-operation."