Australia Plane Crash: Several People Feared Dead In Victoria

At least three people have been killed in southeast Australia after a small plane crashed into water Friday, according to reports. Local authorities have not yet released the official death toll but police said they believed a number of people have died.

The plane went down near Barwon Heads, a township in Victoria. The coast guard is searching through floating remnants of the plane scattered across the crash site, according to the Australian.

A coast guard spokeswoman told the Guardian that two vessels were deployed at the scene and a third was likely to be sent. About 10 State Emergency Service volunteers were at the site of the crash, the report added. An official at the Barwon Heads Airport reportedly said that all planes from that airport were accounted for and they did not know where the crashed jet had flown from.

Although police said that several people were feared dead in the crash, local 3AW radio said, citing the coast guard, that “five people are feared dead,” the Australian reported. The cause of the crash remains unknown, but weather conditions were reported to be poor.

Victoria police said in a statement that three bodies were found but it did not clarify whether any people were missing, BNO News reported. Barwon Heads is on the south coast of Victoria in one of the southernmost points of mainland Australia.