July 28, 2004
A SMALL twin-engine aircraft carrying six passengers is feared to have crashed between in poor conditions in New South Wales this morning.
The plane failed at Benalla in north-east Victoria at its scheduled arrival time of 11am (AEST). Australian Search and Rescue spokesman Ben Mitchell said the last radio contact with the plane, flying from Bankstown in Sydney to Benalla, was at 11am (AEST) today.
"We have extreme concerns about the six people on board the plane," he said.
"The plane was flying in extremely poor weather and very low clouds."
He said four search and rescue helicopters from Canberra, Wagga Wagga, Bendigo and Melbourne had been called in to search the last known location of the plane, 33km south-east of Wangaratta.
He said low cloud was expected to make the search difficult.
AAP
From
www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,10270750%255E2,00.html