Qld plane crash site 'a grisly scene'

4 Oct 2012, 7:46 pm   -   Source: AAP
Police say it could take days to recover the bodies of six people killed in a vintage plane crash. (AAP)

Police say it could take days to recover the bodies of six people killed in a vintage plane crash. (AAP)

Experts have begun the grisly task of identifying six bodies from the wreckage of a vintage plane crash in southeast Queensland.

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Experts tasked with identifying the victims of a vintage plane crash in southeast Queensland face a challenging scene, police say.

Specialist police officers have begun the grisly task of retrieving the bodies of the six on board.

There were no survivors when the red biplane slammed into dense Sunshine Coast bushland west of Imbil on Monday.

Killed in the crash were pilot Des Porter, 68, his wife Kath, 61, Les D'evlin, 75, and wife Janice, 61, and John and Carol Dawson, both 63.

Chief Superintendent Mike Keating said the airplane hit the ground at high speed after trees had already had a heavy impact on the plane's fuselage.

"It's a challenging scene. It's a difficult environment to work within," Supt Keating told reporters at Maroochydore on Thursday.

"It'll take as long as it needs to take."

Superintendent Chris Sang said the crash site was just kilometres away from a disused airstrip.

It could be days before the bodies can be recovered.

The plane was found smashed to pieces on a private property on Wednesday after it disappeared en route from Monto to Caboolture two days earlier after taking part in an air show.

The remoteness of the site is hampering the recovery effort.

Supt Keating said some of the victims' families had gathered at the police station at Maroochydore.

He said it would be a few days before they would be allowed to visit the crash site if they wished to do so.

Four Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigators travelled to the crash site on Thursday.

They're expected to release a preliminary report in about a month.

A final report will be released in the next nine to 12 months."

The tragedy has rocked the small town of Imbil, 160km north of Brisbane, where police have set up a forward command post.

The local fire station has burnt six candles to symbolise the six lives lost and paid tribute to the emergency crews who worked tirelessly to help find the wreckage.

"Our heartfelt condolences and care to the families," a makeshift sign outside the station reads. "May their loved ones rest in peace.

Queensland Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney's wife took a joy flight on the doomed vintage plane only a day before it crashed.

He opened the Monto Fly-In air show on Sunday and met pilot Des Porter.

That was also the day his wife Therese took a joy flight on the 1934 De Havilland Dragon.

"It has touched us, our family, in a peripheral way," Mr Seeney told reporters on Thursday.

"It is certainly a tragedy that has touched a lot of people, especially the people that were at the air show in Monto on the weekend."

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