Plane crash kills 5 people in remote northern Australia

Five people have died after their light aircraft crashed into sand dunes, in the Australian State of Queensland's Cape York Peninsula on Wednesday.

According to police the twin-engine Cessna 404 Titan aircraft attempted two landings before it crashed on the third approach, near the Lockhart River airstrip slightly after 11:30 a.m. local time.

Emergency crews located the wreckage several hours later and discovered that the four passengers, who worked for a local government department, along with the pilot were all deceased.

Queensland Police Acting Chief Superintendent Chris Hodgman said that the weather in the region was bad, with a cyclone forming offshore.

"There are some monsoonal winds and rain up there at the moment, so they are providing some challenging conditions," he said.

Hodgman said that additional Queensland police officers would be flown into the area on Thursday to conduct a joint investigation with the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.