'Engine failure' killed 11 in skydiver plane crash
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
09.07.2014 10:06
The deputy head of Poland's State Commission on Aircraft Accidents Investigation has said a failure of the left engine caused the crash that killed 11 people on Saturday near Czestochowa.
Wreckage of the Piper PA-31 Navajo plane is cleared up on Tuesday afternoon. Photo: PAP/Waldemar Deska
“The cause of the accident was a non-functioning left engine - this is 100 percent clear to us now,” said Andrzej Pussak.
However, he acknowledged that experts still do not know why the engine was not working.
Pussak added that there are still “many doubts” about the the right engine too, and that this will be “thoroughly investigated.”
The Piper PA-31 Navajo plane was being operated by a private parachuting school, and it crashed near the village of Topolow, shortly after taking off from Czestochowa.
The plane burst into flames after hitting the ground, but one man was plucked from the wreckage alive.
The 40-year-old parachuting instructor was released from hospital in Czestochowa on Tuesday and flown by helicopter to his native Krakow. He is due to be interviewed about his recollections of the crash.
Meanwhile, the process of clearing the accident site of wreckage got underway on Tuesday afternoon. (nh)
Source: PAP/TVP/Dziennik Polski