Two men have been killed in a light plane crash near the Gold Coast, sparking a bushfire.
Emergency crews rushed to Heck Field, a private airstrip north of the Gold Coast, after the plane went down in nearby bushland about 6am on Tuesday.
The wreckage caught alight on impact, sparking a large fire in bushland about 500 metres from the airstrip.
The 73-year-old pilot from Beenleigh, Queensland and a male passenger believed to be from Sydney died after the plane crashed soon after takeoff, police said.
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They were the only occupants of a single-engine plane that was headed for a town near Tamworth, New South Wales.
“That crash has been so significant that both occupants were unable to survive,” Supt Brett Jackson said on Tuesday.
A large plume of smoke could be seen kilometres from the crash site late on Tuesday morning, while about 50 emergency services personnel were on the scene.
The crash site had been difficult to access for the ambulance, police and fire crews due to farmland and a nearby creek.
Water bombers were called in to assist crews working to contain the large bushfire, which was burning through nearby cane paddocks and vegetation.
State Emergency Service crews were also helping by ferrying resources, including forensic equipment, across a creek to the crash site, police said.
Police said it was too early to speculate on the cause of the crash.
The pilot’s flight history will be probed as part of the investigation into the planned flight at the private airstrip.
“We are aware the planned flight was to a small town just outside Tamworth, so we have that information,” Jackson said.
“As to the intention behind the trip, I don’t actually have that information; that will form part of the investigation.”
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