Overview
- A two-seat training plane plunged into Lake Attersee and killed a 19-year-old German flight student and her 24-year-old instructor on Wednesday.
- Search teams located the wreck about 300 meters from shore at roughly 160 meters depth but have not yet been able to attach a recovery line.
- Operators are using a one-armed remotely operated vehicle to try to loop a lifting cable under the fuselage so the wreck can be raised to about 40 meters for divers to attach stabilizing balloons.
- Thunderstorms and heavy surface swell have repeatedly delayed work, and both bodies remain unrecovered as crews wait for a safe window to continue operations.
- Investigators say a technical problem is a possible cause but a formal probe will depend on salvage and forensic recovery, and the complex deep-water process could take many more hours or days.