Authorities have recovered the seaplane that crashed off Rottnest Island in Western Australia on Tuesday, killing three people. The wreckage is relatively intact and will form a key part of efforts to understand what caused the fatal crash.
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00:00Two days after the Cessna seaplane plunged into the water off Rottnest Island, killing
00:07three people, authorities went to the ocean floor for answers.
00:13This is obviously quite a delicate operation. One, we want to do as little additional damage
00:17to that aircraft as we raise it, but equally there's a number of components within the
00:22aircraft that we want to get to as quickly as we can.
00:25The wreckage, including part of the plane's fuselage, engine and cabin, was lifted by
00:29crane and put onto a barge. It was taken to a police facility in Perth. The priorities
00:35are the recovery of recording devices such as mobile phones, cameras and monitoring equipment.
00:41We look at those things that are likely to be further damaged by exposure into the elements.
00:45So they tend to be the ones that we focus on first. We know where they are, we know
00:50how to get them out quite quickly.
00:52Police divers had already recovered the bodies of three people, the 34-year-old West Australian
00:57pilot James Wong, a Swiss woman and a Danish man, both in their 60s. Four others were rescued
01:03and airlifted to Perth. Witnesses told the ABC it was horrifying to watch.
01:08As it was taking off it sort of lifted and then unfortunately I think the howling southerly
01:13caught the right wing and lifted the plane and the left wing touched the water and the
01:18whole plane span around and just went sort of a nosedive into the water.
01:22Authorities will speak to witnesses as part of the investigation as well as examining
01:26footage taken by members of the public, along with weather records and maintenance logs.
01:31The plane is owned by Swan River Seaplanes, which has paused operations.
01:35We'll be advised by the authorities and the experts in relation to any measures we need
01:40to take.
01:41If any lessons can be learnt from it, then they certainly will be and will be put in
01:48place by the government in the form of any new regulations that are required.
01:54The ATSB will deliver its preliminary report containing only factual information in the
01:59next two months. A final report with a full analysis of the crash and safety findings
02:03will take longer.