Currumbin plane crash 1996: 25 years since horror plane crash on Gold Coast beach

Lifesavers dove into the sea to save tourists from a devastating plane crash on one of the southern Gold Coast’s most famous beaches.

CURRUMBIN’S lifesavers are used to diving into the surf to pull people in distress from the water.

But those at the surf club on the night of Sunday, April 8, 1996, got more than they bargained for when a plane came hurtling into the sea.

The plane, a twin-engine Britten-Norman Islander, had been on a daytrip from Gold Coast Airport to Moreton Bay and was just a short distance from landing when disaster struck 25 years ago this week.

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Air crash Bureau of Air Safety Investigator, John De Ruyter and Police investigator with plane wreckage at Currumbin Beach, Gold Coast. Picture: Riley Paul

The plane, operated by Island Air, was coming in to land when the pilot, Ian Cooper, had problems with its right engine.

The surging engine made continuing the flight impossible and forced an emergency landing.

Mr Cooper ditched the plane into the sea just short of Elephant Rock where it hit the water, flipped and sank in 2m of water after colliding with rocks just 20m from the landmark.

The force of the impact ripped a hole in its side.

Passenger of the twin-engined Britten-Norman Islander being helped from the scene by an ambulance officer.

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A distress call was made to Coolangatta Tower at 9.28pm, 12 minutes before the plane clipped Elephant Rock and crashed into the sea next to the crowded Currumbin Surf Club.

Police, clubbies and patrons of the Vikings club did not hesitate and ran into the water where they dragged the 10 passengers and pilot from the wreckage.

The rescue proved to be highly precarious, with waves of more than 1.5 metres slamming into the beach.

The remains of the plane in the surf club carpark.,

Among those who dived in as part of the rescue effort was one of the first police officers on the scene, Constable Trent Lucas.

The then-24-year-old, who was based at the Burleigh Heads station, swam out to the wreckage with his partner in the hopes of rescuing those aboard the plane.

“We started diving into the body of the plane through a hole. We couldn’t see anything, we were just relying on touch,’’ he told media on the night of the crash.

Air crash survivors Masaichi Arai (24yrs) and his wife Yoko (26yrs)

“When we realised they were out of the plane in the water we helped them to the shore and started doing a body count.’’

Among the most harrowing images of the shock rescue was that of a 27-year-old Japanese woman who was dragged unconscious from the wreckage in a critical condition.

John De Ruyter of Air Safety outside the Island Air (Qld) Pty Ltd office.

The girl had been trapped underwater for about two minutes and was taken to Gold Coast Hospital for emergency treatment while the rest went to Tweed Heads.

The woman was on life support in the days after the crash but ultimately survived.

No lives were lost in the shock incident but Island Air shut down its operations immediately afterwards.

A Bureau of Air Safety investigation later slammed Mr Cooper for having a poor knowledge of the plane’s operation and he had shut the engine off prematurely.