Ten people survive plane crash thanks to 'incredible' intervention
Authorities have revealed the pilot's skilled landing likely saved all their lives.
Ten people are "lucky to be alive" after a light plane crashed and flipped while attempting to land on an exclusive Australian resort island.
Nine passengers — including a teenager — and a pilot were on board the aircraft yesterday when it crashed on Lizard Island, about 400 kilometres north of Port Douglas at the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, just after 7.30am.
The flight is understood to have been headed for Cairns and after departing the holiday island, which is known for its ultra-exclusive resort and "powdery white beaches", a mechanical function forced it back down to land. The plane clipped trees on the way down and crash-landed into the sand and shrubs.
Nine tourists, pilot miraculously avoid serious injury
Authorities sent two emergency helicopters to the site, transporting four people to Cairns Hospital. All four are understood to have sustained only minor injures, several of them were even able to walk themselves into the facility.
Pilot hailed for 'incredible' reaction
Royal Flying Doctor Service nurse Stephanie Beatty said the situation could've been a lot worse.
"Minor injuries, minor head injury and a fractured arm, otherwise most shaken but okay. I think the people are very lucky to be alive," she said, 9News reported.
Brina Keating from Queensland Ambulance praised the pilot's efforts in landing the aircraft, when he branded "incredible".
"The pilot's clearly done an incredible job," he said. "To walk away from something like that is just incredible."
Dramatic images show the single propeller plane completely overturned, with parts of its body badly damaged. A forensic crash unit will now investigate how the crash occured.
Flights to Lizard Island — about 10 square kilometres in size — usually take off from Cairns with a flight time of one hour.
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