Divers attach lifting cable to Attersee plane wreck

Two specialist divers have attached a lifting cable to a crashed light aircraft at a depth of about 163 metres in Lake Attersee, ORF reported Monday. The divers were already ascending, and initial estimates indicated that the wreck could be brought to the surface late in the afternoon.

The wreck lies about 300 metres from the shore near Steinbach am Attersee in the Vöcklabruck district. Earlier attempts to attach a suitable recovery line using a remotely operated diving robot had failed.

The divers underwent hours of preparation for the operation, including the use of a special oxygen gas mixture in their tanks. A specialist lifting cable was produced specifically for the recovery by a company from Upper Austria.

The wreck is to be raised using a winch from a specially secured platform above the crash site. Firefighters and water-rescue teams were preparing the recovery there. An official confirmation that the cable had been secured was still pending, and the divers were expected to take several hours to reach the surface.

The two-seat aircraft crashed near Steinbach am Attersee on Wednesday and sank to a depth of about 163 metres. A 19-year-old trainee pilot and her 24-year-old flight instructor, both from Germany, were on board.