Distraught relatives in Madang waiting anxiously for news of their loved one.
Picture: Scott Waide
Source: Supplied
AN Australian pilot is believed to be among four survivors dragged from an aircraft that crashed in Papua New Guinea last night, killing 28 others.
People from a village close to the crash site rescued the two expatriate pilots of a Dash 8 aircraft that crashed near the mouth of the Gogol River.
One of the pair suffered a broken leg while the remaining survivors are believed to be a PNG cabin crew member and an Asian passenger who suffered slight burns.
The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed four people survived the crash, including one Australian pilot and one New Zealand pilot.
"The Australian High Commission in Port Moresby has been liaising with Airlines PNG and local authorities to determine if any Australians were amongst those killed on an Airlines PNG flight that crashed outside of Madang, Papua New Guinea," a spokesperson for DFAT said.
"Initial indications are that there are no Australians amongst those killed. The High Commission has undertaken preliminary checks but official confirmation may take some time.
"Airlines PNG and local authorities have advised that there were 28 passengers and 4 crew on board. They understand that four people survived the crash, including one Australian pilot and one New Zealand pilot.
Australian Consular officials will travel to Madang today.
The four survivors who were taken last night to Yamad clinic near the crash site at Transgogol River on the Rai Coast of Madang Province.
They were last night being moved from the Yamad clinic by boat to Modilon hospital in Madang.
The flight was en route from Lae to the resort port town of Madang, when it went down over dense forest in bad weather about 5.15pm yesterday.
The plane had 32 people on board when it crashed 20km south-east of Madang, a spokesman for the Accident Investigation Commission said.
The 28 other passengers, all believed to be PNG nationals, are feared to have perished in the fiery crash.
Eyewitnesses from Marakum village, about three kilometres from the crash site told the Post-Courier last night at Marakum that the plane came down on the banks of the Guabe River and burst into flames on impact.
Tough rescue
Early today rescuers retrieved five bodies from the wreckage, raising fears all 28 passengers died.
"There were reports of fire and there have been some fatalities," AIC spokesman Sid O'Toole told the ABC.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade was last night seeking to confirm the details of any Australians on board.
The confirmation could take some time as locals report the weather around the crash site was particularly bad.
Rescue teams were forced back twice at the Guabe river due to heavy rains and had to resort to the use of four boats to reach the crash site, Madang’s provincial police commander Anthony Wagambie Junior reported.
It is believed that most of the passengers were parents on their way to attend the thanksgiving for the children attending the Divine Word University in Madang. The Civil Aviation Authority of PNG said the doomed plane sent out a distress call before the crash.
Airlines PNG grounded its fleet of 12 Dash 8 aircraft following the crash and also quarantined the fuel depot at Laes Nadzab airport where the plane last refuelled and took off.
'Terrible accident'
Australia has sent four army Blackhawk helicopters, in Port Moresby for an exercise, to the crash site to assist with the search and rescue effort at the request of PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill.
He had been back in the country less than an hour after flying in from Australia when told of the crash.
The PNG Public Enterprises Minister Sir Mekere Morauta expressed sympathy for those who died.
"This is a terrible accident, and many people have died," he said.
"I offer my condolences to the families of the victims of this disaster.
"I join with all other Papua New Guineans in mourning our loss."
It is the second fatal incident involving an Airlines PNG aircraft in recent years. In August 2009 an Airlines PNG Twin Otter crashed on approach to the Kokoda airstrip, killing all 13 people onboard, including nine Australians.
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