Two people have been killed when a lightweight aircraft went down in Southern Taiwan’s Pingtung County as it was flying on a training mission. 

An initial police investigation showed that the US-built, single-engine and two-seat Rans S-6 Coyote II plane took off from an airstrip in the county at 10:10 a.m. local time (0210 GMT) on Monday, and crashed into waters off Dapeng Bay around half an hour later.

Rescuers said the aircraft was almost submerged, forcing them to dive beneath the surface to retrieve the victims.

The 66-year-old pilot, identified as Ke Ming-hsiu, and 32-year-old trainee, Yang Tsung-ru, were taken to nearby hospitals, where they were found to have sustained severe head injuries and pronounced dead by noon.

Taiwan’s Aviation Safety Council has launched an investigation to determine the cause of the deadly plane crash.

On February 4, an ATR72-600 passenger plane operated by the Taiwanese TransAsia Airways struck a road bridge shortly after takeoff and plunged into Keelung River in the capital, Taipei, killing 43.

Back in July 2014, a TransAsia flight crashed during stormy weather in Taiwan’s Penghu archipelago, killing 48 passengers.

The airline was banned from applying for new routes for one year following the incident.

MP/HMV/SS