2 die in KZN plane crash

2010-07-24 16:06

Durban - Two men were killed in a light aircraft crash in Pietermaritzburg on Saturday afternoon, KwaZulu-Natal paramedics said.

The men were found on the side of the R614 after their aircraft crashed into a sugarcane field near the road, ER24 spokesperson Werner Vermaak said.

Paramedics were flagged down by bystanders who witnessed the crash and pointed out the men's bodies. Vermaak said the bystanders heard a light bang and saw the aircraft in the field.

"It is understood from the bystanders that they approached the plane and noticed vast amounts of fuel leaking from the aircraft.

"They then pulled the two occupants from the plane to the nearby road," he said.

However, Vermaak said the men were already dead when paramedics assessed them.

He said the men sustained multiple fatal injuries.

"It is not clear if the men were still alive when the bystanders pulled them from the wreckage," Vermaak said.

The cause of the crash was not yet known and the two men were the only ones in the aircraft.

The crash followed a helicopter accident in which seven senior police officers were killed when their aircraft crashed and caught fire in Witbank on Friday.

On Thursday two people died when their light aircraft crashed while flying from Nelspruit in Mpumalanga to Hoedspruit in Limpopo.

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- SAPA