Pioneer Valley double fatal plane crash recovery begins
Crews have begun to recover the wreckage and bodies from a horror crash west of Mackay at the weekend after days of windy weather made the mission impossible.
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Crews have begun to recover the wreckage from a double fatal plane crash at the weekend after days of windy weather made the mission impossible.
Walkerston grandparents Alwyn and Jenny Rogash died when their plane crashed into the mountainside in the Pioneer Valley west of Mackay on Saturday morning.
The couple had been flying back from visiting family in Townsville when the incident unfolded on a mountain range north of Okuloo and Netherdale coated in thick trees.
Mr Rogash had been described as an experienced pilot.
A police spokeswoman said the retrieval operation for Mr and Mrs Rogash’s bodies and their plane began Tuesday night and was still ongoing as of Wednesday afternoon.
Earlier, Mackay Whitsunday Detective Inspector Emma Novosel had said it would be a “complex recovery exercise”, with the terrain steep, dense, unstable and “very difficult to even walk a short distance”.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) had sent specialist investigators to Mackay following the crash who have since returned to Brisbane.
An ATSB spokeswoman said they gathered “a range of evidence and conducted interviews with involved parties” and an investigation was now underway.
“Our next major public update will come with the release of a preliminary report in about six to eight weeks’ time, which will outline factual information, while a final report, which will contain findings, will be released at the end of the investigation,” the ATSB spokesman said.
The Pioneer Valley tragedy came just months after a seperate double fatal plane crash in the Mackay region which claimed the lives of Rhiley Kuhrt and his pregnant wife Maree.
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Originally published as Pioneer Valley double fatal plane crash recovery begins
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