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Czech ultralight plane crashes into hotel, two injured

11 May 2013 23:41 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. An ultralight plane crashed into an almost empty hotel near Trutnov, east Bohemia on Saturday afternoon. The two crew, both German, were seriously injuried, police said, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

The two injured were treated in hospital, said regional police spokeswoman Iva Jezkova.

Jezkova said the German couple are a man aged 76 and a woman aged 60, they both suffered chest injuries. Their health condition is serious but stable.

"None of them are unconscious, they have injured chests, but their lives are not in peril," said Zdenek Tusl from the hospital in Hradec Kralove to which they were taken.

"The aircraft crashed into one hotel room from the northern side. The damage may be around 250,000 crowns. There was a mourning ceremony in hotel's southern part, but nothing occurred to anyone. The hotel was almost empty as the season has not yet started," Mayor of Lanov Jiri Vacl said.

Jiri Sochor from the Aviation School in Vrchlabi, east Bohemia said the German couple had a failed take-off.

"Luckily, the aircraft did not have the required flight speed. Or else, the accident would have been more serious," He said, adding the French-made four-seat plane did not reach the required altitude, fell to the ground and drove on, until it hit the hotel.