Authorities in South Africa say a light aircraft crashed in bad weather while trying to land at an airport in the Johannesburg area, killing all three people on board.
Gavin Sayce, CEO of Lanseria airport, said the pilot and two passengers died when the Beechcraft King Air plane crashed off the side of the runway just before 7 am Monday local time.
Mr Sayce says an investigation is underway.
It was raining heavily and visibility was poor at the time of the crash.
Pretoria - Rescue workers extracted bodies from the wreckage of a light aircraft that crashed at Lanseria International Airport, north west of Johannesburg, on Monday morning.
Three people were on board the Beechcraft King Air BE90 twin-engine aircraft when it crashed on landing.
The covered bodies were taken out of the wreckage and placed on stretchers before being loaded into mortuary vans.
Emergency workers drilled and cut through the plane using the jaws of life to get to the bodies.
Lanseria Airport manager Gavin Sayce said the private aircraft crashed on landing, and all three occupants were killed.
“Something happened and it crashed on landing. It was flying in from one of the local airports,” he said.
Airport spokeswoman Claudette Vianello said the rainy weather could have contributed to the crash.
“Speculation is that it was due to the weather,” she said.
Officials confirmed that all three were South Africans.
Planes continued to take off and land at the airport on Monday despite the crash.
Speaking at a breakfast briefing in Johannesburg, Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba sent condolences to the families of the victims.
“Our sympathy to the families, even though we do not know what happened yet. We send our condolences and hope God will comfort them,” Gigaba said.
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