Tourists and pilot killed in Australian seaplane crash

DW - Two tourists from Switzerland and from Denmark, along with the pilot, were killed after a light aircraft crashed near Rottnest Island off Western Australia, authorities said Wednesday.

There were six tourists on board when the plane crashed Tuesday evening as it left Rottnest Island, a popular tourist destination around 30 km (18.6 miles) west of Perth.

The other three surviving tourists sustained injuries and were taken to a hospital in Perth.

A 65-year-old woman from Switzerland, a 60-year-old man from Denmark, and the 34-year-old local pilot, were killed in the crash.

"Three lives were lost when a seaplane crashed moments after takeoff," Western Australia's state Premier Roger Cook told a news conference.

"My thoughts go out to the families and friends of the victims. This is no doubt very difficult for everyone involved," Cook said.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau, the aviation crash investigator, said expert investigators were being sent to the site.

"As reported to the ATSB, during takeoff the floatplane collided with the water before coming to rest partially submerged," the bureau's chief commissioner Angus Mitchell said in a statement.

Greg Quin, a tourist who was vacationing on Rottnest, said he saw the plane crash.

"We were watching the seaplane take off and just as it was beginning to get off the water, it just tipped over and it crashed," Quin told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio in Perth.

Cook, however, said the cause of the plane crash could not be confirmed yet. He said the reports of the plane hitting a rock while taking off could not be confirmed from the video viewed so far.

"Those early reports are not confirmed. At this early stage, what caused the crash remains unknown," he said.