A flying instructor and trainee pilot have been arrested over Portugal plane crash after girl, 8, and man, 56, are killed in emergency landing on beach during flying lesson. The plane made an emergency landing on a beach in Portugal during a flying lesson.
The victims, aged 56 and eight, were sunbathing on Sao Joao beach near Lisbon when the horror unfolded. It was earlier reported that the victims were a mum and her child, but they have now been confirmed as a man and child, who are not believed to be related.
The Police chief Paulo Isabel confirmed the two men on board the plane, an instructor and his pupil, had been arrested and were being questioned. Maritime Police Chief Pedro Coelho Dias, confirming the two deaths, said: “The victims are a man and an eight-year-old girl. “They were hit by the plane and died at the scene.”
The stretch of coastline known as Costa da Caparica - a short drive from Jose Mourinho’s home city of Setubal had tourists who had been sunbathing on the beach when the plane, The tourists described the plane as a light aircraft was forced to land.
Pictures have been released showing the aircraft in the sea surrounded by horrified onlookers.
The plane is said to have come from an air club in the Lisbon neighbourhood of Torres Vedras.
It was described as a Cessna-152 - capable of a cruising speed of 90mph.
The investigators are now believed to be probing a possible mechanical failure. The small aircraft, reportedly a Cessna, carrying two people appeared to be in difficulty and wobbled as it skimmed low over the sunbathers, scattering them and spreading panic on the beach, witnesses said.
The plane appeared to have a partly broken left wing, which hung lower than the right wing, Portuguese television pictures showed.
The dead girl was with her parents, who were unhurt, witnesses told local television channels. The plane passed over the dead man's legs as he sunbathed on a towel, they said. No others were reportedly hurt. The bodies lay covered on the sand as police cordoned off the area. The two occupants of the plane were unhurt and were led away by police.
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