Plane Crash South Of Hafnarfjörður, Two Dead

A plane crashed just south of Hafnarfjörður yesterday afternoon, killing both on board.

RÚV reports that police, firefighters, the Rescue Squad and a helicopter from the Coast Guard responded to an emergency signal sent from the plane at about 15:10 yesterday afternoon.

The airplane, made by Tecnam, was an instructional plane owned by the Icelandic Flight Academy. The academy had recently purchased five such planes for flight classes. Both men on the board the plane were instructors at the academy.

Investigations so far have revealed that the plane was scheduled to take off from Reykjavík Domestic Airport and land there a half hour later. The pilots were in contact with air traffic control, taking a few short landings at the airport before heading to a practice area just south of Hafnarfjörður.

When the emergency signal from the plane was transmitted, air traffic control in Reykjavík tried to establish contact with the plane, to no avail. Rescue workers were then immediately alerted.

The Icelandic Flight Academy is now working with the police and crash investigators to assess what the cause of the accident was.