Videos that includes footage from both the rescue operation of the two occupants of the Indonesian-registered single-engine aircraft that crashed into the sea on Thursday morning (15/12) in Heraklion, Crete, as well as from the aircraft inside the water was provided by the Hellenic Coast Guard (HCG).
The video contains footage of the effort to get the two occupants, the 68-year-old Indonesian who died and the 26-year-old South African who survived, onto the HCG vessel, as well as of the single-engine aircraft almost submerged under water.
According to information from cretapost.gr, everything started shortly after 9:15′ in the morning when the single-engine aircraft took off from the “Nikos Kazantzakis” airport bound for Egypt.
Immediately after takeoff, an emergency signal was sent to the airport, as the first reports indicate that the pilot saw that there was a malfunction. A short time later the aircraft suddenly lost altitude and ended up in the sea.
After the aircraft went down and the activation of the relevant protocols, the HCG sent three vessels while two civilian speedboats participated in the SAR operation.
At the same time, divers from the Hellenic Fire Fighting Special Operations Unit EMAK and the HCG went into the water to locate the two passengers while a Hellenic Air Force aircraft was operating as well.
Shortly after 10:30, the 26-year-old South African was the first to be spotted alive and was boarded the HCG vessel. Unfortunately, the operation did not have the same outcome for the 68-year-old, as although cardiopulmonary resuscitation was performed on him on the HCG vessel and he was pronounced dead.
According to ERT, the survivor said that the man from Indonesia complained of chest pains, but definitive answers about the cause of death will be given by the autopsy.
