Man dies in light aircraft crash in Wales

A plane crash in which one man died and another was injured could have claimed many more lives, locals said.

The light aircraft landed on its roof after hitting a powerline and narrowly missing a house in Grovesend near Swansea, south Wales, yesterday.

David Beynon, a councillor of Pontarddulais Town Council, said it was very lucky that more people were not killed.

He said: "The crash site is very close to the M4 as well as near to Pontarddulais Garden Centre.

"The garden centre is usually very busy around that time on a Sunday, so the incident could have been a major catastrophe.

"Everyone's thoughts in the locality go out to the poor chap who died, but in a way it is very fortunate that more people were not killed."

Among those first on the scene was the Loughor Inshore Lifeboat Rescue team.

Medical officer Richard Lake, 36, said the crew had been told about the crash by Swansea Coastguard.

He said: "We were told there had been a crash close to the Loughor Estuary. Thanks to Swansea Coastguards' specialist knowledge we were able to find the accident site very quickly.

"On arrival we saw that the plane had landed on its roof, after hitting a power-line and narrowly missing a house.

"One of the men had sadly died straight away, while the other had significant but not life-threatening injuries.

"We then helped keep the scene secure."

It is unclear how the aircraft came to its forced landing, but is understood that investigators are examining engine failure as one possibility.

A South Wales Police spokeswoman said: "Shortly after 1.30pm a light aircraft made an unscheduled and forced landing on agricultural land near Pontarddulais, Swansea.

"There were two males on board the plane. One of the casualties has been transferred to Morriston Hospital by air ambulance. The second male was pronounced dead at the scene.

"The Air Accidents Investigation Branch of the Department for Transport has been informed and has deployed a team to investigate the incident."

The fire service said three crews attended after they were called to the incident near Gwenlais Road in Grovesend.

Last night police remained at the crash scene - with a cordon still in place.

Villagers in nearby Pontlliw reported a power cut shortly around the time of the plane crash.

Western Power Distribution staff were called to the crash site before going to work on cables near a farm in Pontlliw.