Public prosecutor investigates after plane crash in Pinzgau

2023-05-28 15:02:00

On Saturday evening, the Salzburg public prosecutor had ordered the examination of the burnt-out wreck and the autopsy of the corpses. It could take even longer for the reports from the experts consulted to be available, the authority announced to the APA on Sunday.

Experience has shown that “exactly such investigations” would “take some time,” the police said when asked by the APA on Sunday afternoon. One expects a “lengthy and complex investigation procedure”. The public prosecutor’s office, however, confirmed the appointment of an expert specializing in aircraft accidents and the seizure of the aircraft debris. If there were no indications of third-party fault, ie a person not involved in the accident, “the investigation could be stopped relatively quickly,” the press office said.

The small plane from Bavaria had crashed into the parking lot of a toboggan run, the adjacent Pinzgauer Straße, the main connection from Pongau to Pinzgau, had to be closed to all traffic for the duration of the initial investigation. Both occupants – the 56-year-old pilot and his 65-year-old companion from Lower Bavaria – died. On the way to Slovenia, the plane made a stopover in Zell am See and had an accident shortly after leaving again for unknown reasons. After the accident site had been secured and the dead identified by the police, the public prosecutor’s office took over the investigation.