Like “snakes on a plane” and “How do you fly this thing again?” some phrases and situations make for film-worthy content precisely because they are the last thing someone wants to hear as a passenger aboard an airplane.
But this week, a flight on a seven-passenger regional jet taking off from the Western Australian city of Broome crashed into crocodile-infested saltwater in an incident that caused no major injuries but gave a major fright to everyone onboard.
As first reported by Australian news outlets, the Cessna 441 Conquest twin turboprop plane crashed into Roebuck Bay off the coast of Broome at approximately 11:25 a.m. on March 19.
“Loss of engine power” causes plane to crash in waters full of crocodiles
An Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) statement says it has opened “an investigation into the accident involving a Cessna 441 Conquest twin turboprop aircraft near Broome Airport” and that early examination shows the plane “encountered a loss of engine power.”
The plane was carrying two pilots and five passengers. One of them, a man reported to be in his 40s, sustained a minor injury to his head and was taken to a hospital in Broome for treatment.
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The injury was related to the hit he sustained during the sudden landing, rather than an attack from a crocodile.
Fire, ambulance and rescue crews arrived on the scene and pulled those aboard out of the aircraft.
As the plane had crashed into shallow waters, the people could be pulled out quickly and assessed for injury on the scene.
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“No other injuries have been reported at this time”
“No other injuries have been reported at this time,” an emergency responder said to local outlets. While Fisherman Bend is a beach that is full of crocodiles and makes up the Broome Crocodile Control Zone, none of them managed to pose a danger to passengers before they were pulled out.
The man with the head injury was airlifted to hospital by helicopter.
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Anyone who was in the area and witnessed or filmed the crash on video is also being asked to report it through the agency’s website to aid the investigation.
“I saw [the plane] flying and then dipping quite low, and then I just assumed it had passed over the horizon,” witness Alex MacNamara described to local broadcaster ABC News. “It looked like it was doing a sort of turn on an angle and then it was just dipping quite low.”
“When we were fishing, we saw the helicopter and then the police came with the boat,” Bili Putra, another eyewitness, explained to ABC. “We were using the phone and then we zoomed in and we saw someone they pulled out from the water.”
Another recent crash occurred in Colombia when a Beechcraft 1900 operating for state airline Saetna crashed into the mountains 11 minutes before it was scheduled to land in the northern Colombian city of Ocaña, BBC reported.
All 13 passengers and two crew members aboard were killed in the crash. Colombian lawmakers held mourning ceremonies and opened a hotline for families of the victims.
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