Fiji flight school plane crashes with Canadian sightseeing tourists killing three

A four seater Cessna 172 aircraft (similar to picture) owned by the Advanced Aviation Training Academy and flight school in Nadi, Fiji has crashed in the jungles outside Lautoka killing two Canadian tourists and their Fiji pilot late yesterday afternoon.

The pilot has been identified as 22year old Frederick Mitchell and the two unidentified Canadian tourists were on a sightseeing flight when their plan crashed around 4.30pm yesterday.

It is understood Fiji police and soldiers had left Lautoka early this morning to retrieve the bodies.

Officials from the Civil Aviation Authority of the Fiji Islands (CAAFI) will also be flying to the mountainous area outside Lautoka this morning to investigate how the Cessna 172 aircraft crashed.

Sketch of the crash site (inset: the dead Fiji pilot) [pic from FijiTimes]

Local villagers near the crash site, had reported seeing three bodies in the wreck yesterday. However, dense jungle and poor light hampered efforts to retrieve the bodies yesterday evening.