Two fortunate pilots “miraculously” survived a plane crash in Western Australia on Monday.
At around 4:00 p.m., the pilots were involved in Boeing 737 crash, Simple Flying reports. They had been attempting to douse a fire that had broken out at Fitzgerald River National Park, using the aircraft to drop a flame-retardant compound on the fire.
Helicopters transported the two men to a Perth Hospital to be treated for “minor injuries,” and they have since been released, the outlet noted citing 7 News Australia.
The Associated Press (AP) reported the pilots were flying a plane belonging to Canadian aircraft operator Coulson Aviation and are presumed to be Canadian citizens.
Stephen Dawson, the state’s Emergency Services Minister, expressed amazement that the pilots had survived the ordeal:
“It’s nothing short of miraculous that they were able to walk away from that plane,” he said, per the AP.
Angus Mitchell, the Chief Commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), echoed this assessment.
“A large aircraft going down is generally quite catastrophic. These pilots are very lucky to be alive,” News.com.au quoted him as saying.
Citing data from another source, Simple Flying detailed the plane’s past as part of a consumer fleet:
N619SW is a 27.32-year-old aircraft. According to data from ch-aviation.com, the aircraft was built in 1995 and was delivered to Southwest Airlines in November of that year. The airline flew for Southwest for just under 22 years, leaving the fleet in August 2017.
Mitchell suggested that multiple factors likely contributed to the plane’s crashing, according to the AP.
“In terms of a large aircraft like this coming down, it’s generally never one thing that goes wrong, it’s quite often a succession of things,” he said.
Dawson noted the two men’s “remarkable” survival is “probably [a] testament to their skill as a pilot,” per News.com.au.
The incident is still being investigated by the ATSB, according to News.com.au.