Two Australian pilots are saved from plane crash fighting a forest fire

A huge Boeing 737 tanker plane crashed into a remote part of Australia, in the Fitzgerald National Park.

The two pilots who commanded the plane were extinguishing the fire in the park, which is 420 kilometers southeast of Perth.

It was an old converted passenger plane that hit the ground just 20 seconds after dropping its cargo in the burned area, authorities said.

Aerial images taken shortly after the crash, which occurred on Monday, showed thick black smoke billowing from the aircraft on the ground, with the rear of the fuselage engulfed in flames.

Investigators hoped to have access to the crash site starting Wednesday if it was deemed safe, and to recover the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, official Angus Mitchell said.

The safety regulator would be interviewing the pilots and witnesses, as well as reviewing maintenance records, weather conditions and the task in progress at the time, Mitchell added.

“It’s almost miraculous that they were able to get out of that plane,” regional Emergencies Minister Stephen Dawson told a news conference on Tuesday.

(YO)