1 Sep 2010

NZ survivor of plane crash flown to Australia

10:39 pm on 1 September 2010

The sole survivor of a plane crash in Papua New Guinea that took the lives of three Australian and one New Zealander has been evacuated to Australia.

The Cessna Citation jet crashed on the remote Misima Island, 200km off Papua New Guinea's southeast tip on Tuesday.

The Trans Air charter plane overshot the runway while landing in heavy rain before crashed into trees and bursting into flames.

The survivor, another New Zealander, who is a permanent resident of Australia, arrived in Port Moresby on Wednesday on a charter flight, AAP reports.

The unnamed man, believed to be the co-pilot of the doomed Cessna Citation, was immediately whisked onto another plane and flown out of Papua New Guinea to an Australian hospital for medical treatment for heavy bruising.

Officials from the New Zealand and Australian high commissions visited the site on Wednesday.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is offering assistance to the families of the New Zealanders.