A 15-year-old girl and her instructor died when their light aircraft mysteriously crashed on the teen’s first orientation flight.
Witnesses said the plane gradually lost altitude shortly after taking off from a small airport.
After a failed emergency landing, it crashed and caught fire in an olive grove, setting fire to the undergrowth.
READ MORE: Armed watch thief rips pricey Rolex from popular singer’s wrist
Despite their injuries, Alessandra Freschet and Simone Fant managed to pull themselves from the wreckage.
Firefighters and paramedics arrived at the scene and found the pair lying on the ground with severe burns.
They were rushed to hospital in critical condition, but their conditions worsened and they died hours later in Udine, Italy on Monday (2 Sept) afternoon.
Freschet, who was from Roveredo, Piano, and studied at the Volta Aeronautical Institute in Udine, said flying was her lifelong dream.
Monday’s outing in Premariacco, east of Udine, was her first orientation flight.
She was waiting to turn 16 so she could obtain her pilot’s licence.
Fant, 31, had received his licence 13 months earlier.
He lived in Reana del Rojale, as reported by Need To Know.
Freschet and her classmates were reportedly taking part in an exercise in which each student was meant to take a brief flight over the area.
The cause of the crash was still a mystery at the time of reporting.
An investigation is ongoing.
READ MORE: Driver cheats death as plunging lorry crushes tractor
