Three men killed as light aircraft collide in mid-air near Sydney

One plane had burst into flames on impact

Three men died after two light planes collided mid-air and crashed into a forested area south west of Sydney on Saturday.

Australian police, fire and ambulance crews reached the two wreckage sites, located in a semi-rural bushland area about 55 miles southwest of Sydney, on foot.

One plane had burst into flames on impact.

New South Wales Police Acting Superintendent Timothy Calman confirmed that a Cessna 182 carrying two people collided with an ultralight aircraft from a nearby airfield carrying one.

Further details of the victims have not been disclosed.

Witnesses saw “debris coming from the sky” and tried to help, but “there was probably not much that could’ve been done,” Mr Calman said to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

He noted both crashes, about a mile apart, were “not survivable”.

NSW Ambulance inspector Joseph Ibrahim, part of the emergency response team, said to the ABC, “unfortunately, there was nothing they could’ve done”.

The cause of the crash will be investigated by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.

- PA