Two pilots escaped with minor injuries after a Boeing 737 aircraft converted for firefighting crashed in Australia, authorities said Tuesday.
The twin-engine tanker owned by Canada-based Coulson Aviation crashed in Fitzgerald River National Park in the southern state of Western Australia while fighting bushfires on Monday night.
Both pilots suffered minor injuries despite the plane being engulfed in flames and smoke upon impact, Emergency Services Minister Stephen Dawson said.
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“It’s nothing short of miraculous that they were able to get away from that plane,” Dawson told reporters.
The men, believed to be Canadian citizens, were released from a hospital on Tuesday, the Australian Associated Press reported.
Three US airmen were killed when a C-130 Hercules tanker, a four-prop plane also owned by Coulson Aviation, crashed in the east coast state of New South Wales while fighting bushfires in January 2020.
The wreckage of a Boeing 737 aircraft with two people on board that crashed over the Fitzgerald River National Park in Australia is shown on February 6, 2023. (DFES via AP)
Australia’s Transport Safety Office, the nation’s accident investigator, said Monday’s accident was the first serious accident involving a Boeing 737 in Australia.
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The plane crashed shortly after discharging its cargo of water-additives in turbulent conditions. Coulson Aviation is sending executives to Sydney.
Accident investigator Angus Mitchell said it was too soon to suggest any link between the two Coulson Aviation crashes or broader implications for the Boeing 737 airliner.
“It’s quite common for tanker aircraft to be converted from other uses,” Mitchell said.
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“In terms of a big plane like this going down, it’s usually never one thing that goes wrong, it’s often a succession of things,” Mitchell added.
The plane had taken off from an airport 300 miles away. It was the plane’s second retardant crash into an out-of-control bushfire near the coastal town of Hopetoun.
