ROTTERDAM (VG) The fuselage and the missing have still not been found, two days after a small plane with a father and a son from Norway crashed into the Caland Canal near Rotterdam.
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The search was completed for the day when VG arrived on Tuesday night at the accident site where the canal meets the North Sea. The water is deep, the current is strong and the traffic is heavy in Europe’s largest port.
An adult and a student at a secondary school in Bergen are missing after the accident on Sunday night. The plane had flown from Flesland via Germany the same day. The goal was France.
There was no one else on board.
On Wednesday morning, the West police district confirms to VG that a father and a son are missing.
– Yes, I can confirm that it is a father and a son who are missing and that they are from Bergen, says police attorney Cathrine Melau in the West police district at 09.20.
– Hope to find them
Therese Ariaans, spokesperson for national police authorities in the Netherlands, tells VG that the search conditions in the channel are very demanding. Only parts of the hull have so far been found.
– Of course we have hope to find them. These are difficult circumstances, but we will try as long as we can, Ariaans emphasizes.
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The relatives have been notified.
– We know that this is one of the most horrible situations it can be in for the relatives. Especially for the sake of the relatives, we do everything we can to find the missing, says Therese Ariaans.
Follows up the class
Agency director for schools in Bergen Frode Nilsen confirms to VG that it was a child from Bergen on the plane that crashed in the Netherlands.
– The school has been notified and we try to take care of them around in the best possible way, Nilsen says to VG.
The school was open to students and staff after school on Tuesday.
– We follow up the class and a number of friends, says the principal at the relevant secondary school to VG.
–The West Police District assists the Dutch police in notifying and caring for relatives, but it is the Dutch authorities who are responsible for investigating the accident.
– The weather was bad when the accident happened. It was raining heavily, says the Dutch policewoman.
Found flying wing
The crew of a patrol boat from the port authority is said to have seen the small plane go down in the large Caland canal west of the Netherlands’ second largest city Rotterdam on Sunday night.
The Coast Guard, the fire brigade and the police were deployed in a comprehensive rescue operation. Wreckage, oil spills, life jackets and clothing were quickly located in the water.
A flight wing must also have been found, the port authority informs the newspaper AD.
–On Sunday night, divers searched down to a depth of 24 meters, and an unmanned submarine with sonar has been deployed in the search. Helicopter searched from the air.
After two hours, the hope of finding survivors was considered to be gone. The emergency services wrote on Sunday at 23.21 that it assumed that it was a fatal accident.
Giant port
The plane crashed at the port Europoort, where tankers load petroleum and large ships pick up ore and other bulk cargoes. Cranes and wind turbines are in a row.
In the gigantic port area are large refineries and chemical factories. Here, transhipment takes place from the vessels on the Rhine to sea-going ships.
Colossal cargo ships glide around the clock through the canal and out into the North Sea. But there are hardly any people to be seen along the deserted roads between fenced industrial areas.
The small aircraft is registered in Spain, but has a Norwegian owner. According to NRK, it left Bergen Airport Flesland on Sunday morning.
The Dutch Accident Investigation Board is investigating the accident.
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