Two Fijian pilots who died in a plane crash last year have been cleared of wrongdoing in a report into the incident.
Photo: mszucs/123RF
Flight instructor Iliesa Tawalo and student pilot Merelesita Lutu went down in a Cessna 172 aircraft in mountainous terrain in Vanua Levu last February.
A report into the crash found the pair were not at fault and did not breach any regulations.
The finding from the report by New Zealand based air accident investigator Andrew McGregor was revealed in a press conference earlier today by Fiji's Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.
The report said on their departure from Labasa airport, visibility was good and cloud cover limited, in compliance with Fiji's flight regulations.
Not long into the flight, the reports says, the weather took a turn for the worse, trapping the ill-fated pilots over mountainous terrain with low visibility, which it is believed eventually led to the fatal crash.
The bodies of the two pilots were eventually recovered in rugged terrain amidst the wreckage of their plane near the Delaikoro Mountain.