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Plane wreck recovered from Lake Constance

plane wreck
A challenge: Recovering the wrecked plane from Lake Constance Keystone

A search crew has recovered most pieces of the plane that crashed into Lake Constance on Tuesday. The two people who were on board are presumed dead, but their bodies have not been found. 

The authorities have identified the pilot as a 74-year-old Swiss man. His passenger was his partner, a 75-year-old Swiss woman. 

The small aircraft, a Piper Malibu, took off from Zurich on Tuesday morning and crashed near the German island of Mainau about half an hour later. It was headed for Hamburg, Germany. 

Recovering the wreck from depths of up to 60 metres required a submersible robot and a crane. As of Wednesday evening, there was no sign of the passengers’ bodies. 

Flight recordings will be analysed to determine the cause of the crash. German meteorological services reported that conditions were favourable for flying, with moderate turbulence over Lake Constance at the time. Firefighters reported that little fuel had spilled into the lake water.

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