A 73-year-old pilot and a male passenger died after the wreckage caught fire on impact, with emergency services now working to contain the bushfire<\/b>
\nA 73-year-old pilot and a male passenger died after the wreckage caught fire on impact, with emergency services now working to contain the bushfire
Two men have been killed in a light plane crash near the Gold Coast, sparking a bushfire.
Emergency crews rushed to Heck Field, a private airstrip north of the Gold Coast, after the plane went down in nearby bushland about 6am on Tuesday.
The wreckage caught alight on impact, sparking a large fire in bushland about 500 metres from the airstrip.
The 73-year-old pilot from Beenleigh, Queensland and a male passenger believed to be from Sydney died after the plane crashed soon after takeoff, police said.
They were the only occupants of a single-engine plane that was headed for a town near Tamworth, New South Wales.
\u201cThat crash has been so significant that both occupants were unable to survive,\u201d Supt Brett Jackson said on Tuesday.
A large plume of smoke could be seen kilometres from the crash site late on Tuesday morning, while about 50 emergency services personnel were on the scene.
The crash site had been difficult to access for the ambulance, police and fire crews due to farmland and a nearby creek.
Water bombers were called in to assist crews working to contain the large bushfire, which was burning through nearby cane paddocks and vegetation.
State Emergency Service crews were also helping by ferrying resources, including forensic equipment, across a creek to the crash site, police said.
Police said it was too early to speculate on the cause of the crash.
The pilot\u2019s flight history will be probed as part of the investigation into the planned flight at the private airstrip.
\u201cWe are aware the planned flight was to a small town just outside Tamworth, so we have that information,\u201d Jackson said.
\u201cAs to the intention behind the trip, I don\u2019t actually have that information; that will form part of the investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n