Two young men died in a flying accident; a learner pilot and an instructor, from the One Air Diamond Flight Center, flying school.

The training flight took off from El Trapiche airfield in Vélez-Málaga, which is where the flying school flies from, although the school itself is in the city of Málaga.

The accident occurred in the early hours of the 11th whilst the trainee pilot was on a night-flying exercise, heading for Valencia. But the light aircraft crashed into the Cerro del Fraile, which is within the Cabo de Gata Natural Park in Almería.

The 24-year old instructor, Rafael Ricote, was from Cordoba but had learnt to fly in Salamanca. The trainee pilot, 26-year-old, Marcus, was a British resident of Málaga.

They had taken off at 20.30h on the 10th with a route plan for Valencia. However, after refuelling at Almería Airport, the aircraft headed off in the direction of Turia, but they never arrived.

The aircraft flew into the before-mentioned mountain around 00.30h on the 11th, for reasons unknown to date. Investigators are looking into a possible pilot error as there had been no communications with the ground to report mechanical problems. Neither was there a mayday call.

The emergency call centre had received a call from Valencia Airport to say that they had lost contact with the flight in the Cerro del Fraile area. The school’s director also informed 112 that the aircraft had not returned to where it had started out, either.

Owing to the steep terrain, a Guardia Civil mountain-rescue team was needed to reach the wreckage, in which they found the two dead occupants.

(News: Velez-Malaga, Axarquia, Costa del Sol, Malaga, Andalucia)