Aircraft crash in moorea - 20 believed dead

Thoughts are with all involved - hopefully none of the TT Family

The Age - August 10, 2007 - 3:20PM

Two Australians are believed to be among up to 20 people killed when a light aircraft crashed into the sea on its way to Tahiti from a nearby island in French Polynesia, foreign affairs officials have said.

A spokesman from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said two Victorians were listed as being on board the fatal flight but there was as yet no confirmation of their fate.

"The French authorities say that to the best of their knowledge there were no survivors among the 20 people listed on board the aircraft," he said.

"We understand that two Australians from Victoria were listed as on board the aircraft.

"We understand that at this stage the Australians have not been identified."

Australian consular staff are in touch with the families of the two Australians.

The DFAT spokesman said Australia's consul in Noumea was travelling to Tahiti to join Australia's honorary consul in French Polynesia.

The passenger plane plunged into the sea near Tahiti moments after take-off from a nearby island and all 20 people on board are feared dead.

Two Americans and two European Union officials were also aboard the plane, along with a number of local officials, authorities in French Polynesia said.

Witnesses said they saw the Air Moorea turboprop aircraft ploughing into the waves soon after taking off from Moorea's Tamae airport today for the 17-kilometre flight to the nearby South Pacific island of Tahiti.

"The plane seemed to have difficulty gaining altitude," an airport employee who saw the crash said.

"Then it plunged and you could hear the noise of the explosion."

Debris and floating bodies

So far 16 bodies have been recovered from the plane and divers are searching for the rest, according to officials in Papeete, capital of the French overseas territory.

The first rescue workers on the scene found nothing but debris and floating bodies.

"The bodies were coming up slowly, one after the other," said one of the rescuers, adding "it seems that the cabin disintegrated upon impact as all the passengers are still buckled in."

Two helicopters were being used to look for the remaining passengers, said Jacques Witkowski, the secretary general of French Polynesia's High Council.

The cause of the crash was not immediately clear, but an investigation has been launched.

The bodies of the victims have been moved to a makeshift morgue in a nearby village where identification was underway.

'Cruel tragedy'

The crash was the first for an Air Moorea aircraft, according to officials. The plane, which the company had operated for one year, was last inspected on July 18.

French Polynesia's president Gaston Tong Sang immediately flew to the scene of the crash, where he spoke of the "cruel tragedy for Polynesia".
A team of psychologists has been mobilised to help families of the victims, as well as a telephone hotline for information, according to the government's website.

France's top official for overseas territories, Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, voiced her "sincere condolences to all the families touched by this tragedy".

She paid tribute to the rescuers and vowed that families and investigators would receive all the support they need.

Alliot-Marie ordered Christian Estrosi, the junior minister responsible for French overseas territories, to travel to the islands as soon as possible.

Agencies

Yes, I saw it on the internet earlier today. A real tragedy.

Oddly, I have always thought that those short flights between islands in the south pacific aren't too dangerous because planes aren't flying high and that there would be plenty of time for rescue. Just awful.

How sad. It's a 10 minute flight between Moorea and Tahiti.

Tahitipresse reported this:

A witness who was swimming only a few hundred meters from the crash site told Tahitipresse that the plane's two motors had suddenly stopped turning. "The Twin Otter took off. It was not very high. The weather was wonderful, but suddenly the motors made a funny noise and then immediately cut off while the plane was still taking off," said Bernard, who lives near the Moorea airport.

"Then the plane fell, not like a stone, but while continuing its trajectory. The impact was not strong. I saw the tail floating upright for a few moments, then it sunk . . . Fishing boats raced to the impact point. I was completely stupefied," the witness said.