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The two crew members of a small plane that made an emergency landing on a beach near Lisbon on Wednesday and caused the deaths of two people are guilty of a possible negligent homicide, the Attorney General's Office said in a statement on Thursday.
"After the interrogations, which were conducted by the Public Prosecutor's Office, the accused were subject to the coercion measure of identity and residence. The investigations are continuing with the possible prosecution of negligent homicide, " the statement said.
The instructor and trainee were interrogated by a prosecutor behind closed door in a court building in Almada near Lisbon on Thursday.
The crime of negligent homicide is punishable by up to five years of imprisonment, according to Portuguese law.
An eight-year-old girl and a 56-year-old man were instantly killed after the small plane made an emergency landing at crowded Sao Joao beach in Costa de Caparis, Almada, some 30 km south of Lisbon on Wednesday.
The emergency landing caused panic on the beach as people ran for their lives. Some angry people confronted the instructor and trainee and quizzed why they did not land the plane in the sea.
The Cessna 152 small plane was on a training flight from Cascais town in the suburbs of Lisbon to Evora, a central Portuguese city. The two onboard reported an engine failure to the control tower shortly after takeoff, saying it was about to make an emergency landing on a beach.
However, the plane landed on Sao Joao beach next to the one they reported to the control tower.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
