Sydney - Saba:
At least three people, including two foreign tourists, were killed and three others were seriously injured and taken to hospital after a seaplane crashed off the coast of Western Australia.
Western Australia Premier Roger Cook said in a joint press conference with state police commissioner Cole Blanch that the Coast Guard recovered the bodies of the victims from the crash site on Tuesday night.
The victims were identified as a 34-year-old pilot from Perth, a 65-year-old Swiss tourist, and a 60-year-old Danish tourist.
The privately owned seaplane was carrying seven people when it crashed into the ocean shortly after takeoff on Tuesday, around 4 p.m. local time, near Rottnest Island, a popular tourist destination 20 kilometers off the coast of Perth.
Four passengers were pulled from the water and airlifted to hospital on Tuesday evening, three of them with serious injuries.
The survivors are a 63-year-old Swiss man, a 58-year-old Danish man and two Western Australians aged 65 and 63.
Cook said initial investigations had failed to corroborate witness accounts that the plane had hit a rock shortly before crashing.
Aerial footage of the crash site showed the plane plummeting into the water, with debris floating nearby.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau confirmed on Wednesday that it would investigate the circumstances of the incident.
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