A horse died after being hit by a small plane taking off in Australia
- A horse died after being hit by a two-seater plane taking off from a small Australian suburb.
- The horse was taken to a vet, but didn't recover and had to be put down, officials said.
A horse in South Australia died after being struck by a small plane attempting to take off.
The plane hit the animal on Sunday morning while taking off from Brentwood, a small locality on the Yorke Peninsula, local police said.
The two-seater Jabiru aircraft ended up crashing and flipping over, according to photos provided by officials.
A 63-year-old man piloting the aircraft was flown to hospital with "serious injuries," police said.
His passenger, a 56-year-old woman, was uninjured, and the horse was taken to a vet for treatment, authorities added.
"But I'm sorry to say that the horse didn't recover from its injuries and has had to be put down," Senior Constable Jen Cullinan told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Monday.
"So sad news for everybody involved in the incident. I know a lot of people, certainly on socials, were concerned about the welfare of the horse," Cullinan added, per ABC.
The plane was traveling at around 70 miles per hour when it struck the horse, News Corp Australia reported.
The police have handed off their investigation of the crash to Recreational Aviation Australia, ABC News reported.
Maxine Milera, RAA's acting CEO, told Insider in a statement that it hasn't received any official statements about the accident, but is "closely monitoring the situation."
"The safety and well-being of our aviation community are of utmost importance to us, and we are deeply concerned about the unfortunate accident," Milera wrote.
July 31, 2023: This story was updated to reflect comment from the RAA.