No body found in Vic plane wreckage
The site of the crash, south-east of Geelong. Google Maps
The wreckage of a light plane that crashed off Victoria’s surf coast more than a week ago, killing four people, has been recovered but the body of one of the victims is still missing.
Three bodies were recovered within hours of the crash in Bass Strait on January 29.
Police believed the fourth victim may have been trapped in part of the fuselage of the Piper Cherokee, which was found along with an engine block and propeller on the seabed between Point Lonsdale and Barwon Heads.
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The wreckage was brought to the surface before it was towed to shore on Sunday.
“All we did locate was wreckage. There was nothing else found,” Sergeant Scott Dower told reporters on Sunday.
“There is still one person missing.
“They weren’t within that wreckage or within the surrounds of it.”
Authorities will continue searching the area with boats and helicopters and people will scour the shore on foot.
The plane wreck was towed into a dock at Yarraville before being taken to Williamstown, where it will be inspected by Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigators.
The site of the crash, south-east of Geelong. Google Maps
Favourable weather on the weekend allowed divers to go down about 40 metres to recover the parts with about 30 people helping to pull the wreck to the surface.
“There’s nothing else left to find of the plane,” Sgt Dower said.
“We’re happy with everything that we’ve recovered from the wreck,” he said.
The crash victims’ names have not been released but it’s believed Daniel Flinn, 55, Donald Hateley, 68, and Ian Chamberlain and his partner Dianne Bradley, both aged in their 60s, died in the accident.
They were flying in bad weather from Melbourne’s Moorabbin Airport to King Island in Tasmania.
A fisherman watched from his vessel as the plane crashed into the water.
The three men were all licensed private pilots but it’s not clear who was flying.