Asia

Asia

British skydiver among nine killed in New Zealand plane crash

04 September 2010 17:59 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. A British holidaymaker was among nine people who died when a light aircraft crashed and burst into flames in New Zealand, APA reports quoting .telegraph.co.uk website.
The Fletcher U24, owned by a skydiving company, plunged to the ground seconds after taking off from the runway at Fox Glacier, a popular tourist spot on New Zealand’s South Island.
Senior Sergeant Allyson Ealam from nearby Greymouth said four overseas tourists were among those on the plane, one each from England, Ireland, Germany and Australia.
The pilot and four other male passengers were local people from the small community beside the glacier.
She said the names of the dead would not be released until next of kin had been informed.
Police have contacted the British High Commission in Wellington and the embassies of the other foreign nationals.
The crash happened as John Sullivan, the local volunteer fire chief, watched from his house just 50 yards away.
"It burst into flames on impact," Mr Sullivan said. "There was a lot of black smoke.
"I didn’t see any sign of smoke or flame before then.
"I ran straight out there and did a quick 360-degree around the whole thing, by that time it was in flames.
"I thought maybe if someone had been thrown clear on impact, or if they’d tried to jump out in the air, there might have been something I could have done, but looking around the whole area there was no sign of life."
His wife Kirsty said she thought the plane was going to hit their house.
"It was coming straight towards us and then it seemed to turn at the last minute, which we were very grateful for because we had started to run out of the house."
Another witness said: "It was like a fireball and then there were big puffs of smoke going up. The plane was engulfed in flames immediately.
"No one could have survived that."
The wreckage remained at the end of the runway, covered with a large tarpaulin, until accident investigators could reach the remote settlement.
The bodies were also to remain at the crash site overnight until they could be taken to hospital in Dunedin.
It is understood that the plane belonged to a small local adventure tourism company, Skydive New Zealand.
No one from the company was prepared to comment on the disaster.
Maureen Pugh, mayor of the Westland District, said the tourists were going up with instructors to do a tandem skydive in perfect conditions.
"It is a well-established company down here and has a huge reputation.
"Nobody is even trying to guess what went wrong. We’re just so devastated," she said.
The tragedy has hit the 200-strong community at Fox Glacier hard, where everyone knows everyone else and most make their living from tourism.
The village was also the scene of a light plane crash in 1994, in which seven people died.
A year earlier, nine were killed when a tourist plane crashed on the neighbouring Franz Josef Glacier.