Investigations underway into light aircraft crash on South East coast

Investigations are underway into how a plane came down in the South East yesterday with four people on board.

At about 5 o’clock last evening, the Irish Coast Guard Marine Rescue Coordination Centre in Dublin was alerted to an emergency involving a light aircraft approximately 20 miles off the Southeast coast.

It’s been confirmed that the aircraft conducted an emergency landing on The Burrow Beach, two miles west of Carnsore Point.

The Dublin and Waterford based Coast Guard helicopters R117 and R116 were tasked to the scene, as well as the Carnsore/ Rosslare Coast Guard unit and the Dunmore East Lifeboat in conjunction with the other emergency services.

Two men, aged in their twenties and fifties, and two women in their thirties were on the four-seater

Ger Carthy is Ambulance Officer for Wexford and was quick to arrive, saying “I proceeded to the scene to be confronted, I suppose, with a light aircraft with the nose in the sea and four casualties on the shore with a substantial amount of damage done to the aircraft”.

He adds “We’re led to believe that they lost both engines, they were doing some marine surveys and that was part of their working day, surveillance around just off Carnsore Point, they ran into some difficulty I think about a mile off”.

Both the male pilot and female co-pilot who were at the front of the plane suffered the worst injuries and were taken to hospital by Coastguard helicopters.

While the remaining two were transferred to hospital by ambulance.

Wexford People journalist Padraig Byrne was also at the scene yesterday and says “I believe the pilot suffered two broken legs while the copilot also I believe suffered a broken leg, the two people in the back of the plane seem to have only minor injuries”.

The Air Accident Investigation Unit is carrying out an investigation into the incident.