Sydney seaplane crash: Operation to raise wreckage begins

Authorities use a crane to recover part of the seaplane on Thursday

Australian authorities have begun recovering the wreckage of a seaplane that crashed near Sydney, killing six people.

On Sunday, high-profile UK business leader Richard Cousins, four members of his family and a Canadian pilot died when the plane plunged into a river. The plane was being lifted from about 13m (40ft) below the water on Thursday.

Victims (clockwise from top left) Richard Cousins, Emma Bowden, Will Cousins, Gareth Morgan, Heather Bowden, Ed Cousins

It has also emerged that a plane with the same serial number was involved in a fatal crash in 1996.
On Thursday, local news broadcasts showed the De Havilland DHC-2 Beaver being retrieved from the Hawkesbury River, about 50km (30 miles) north of Sydney.


The crash killed Compass Group chief executive Mr Cousins, 58, his 48-year-old fiancée, magazine editor Emma Bowden, her 11-year-old daughter Heather, his sons, Edward, 23, and William, 25, and Sydney-based pilot Gareth Morgan, 44.

The family, from Tooting, in south-west London, were flying back to Sydney from an exclusive waterfront restaurant in Jerusalem Bay, not far from the crash site.

The businessman's brothers, Simon and Andrew Cousins, said on Thursday: "We are fortunate and thankful for the outpouring of love and support we've received from across the world."