Divers retrieve items from sunken plane

1.00pm

Police divers this morning retrieved items from the sunken cockpit of a freight plane that crashed off Kapiti Island 12 days ago, killing two people.

The divers brought up several "loose items" for examination, but were hampered by poor underwater visibility and strong currents, Transport Air Investigation (TAIC) spokesman Peter Northcote said.

TAIC planned to lift the cockpit late this afternoon on to the search vessel Sounds Image and ship it to Mana Harbour, about three hours south, for examination.

If the 6m by 3m cockpit was too large, it would be kept afloat to be transferred to a barge for the journey.

"At this stage it's unclear if the cockpit will come up as a whole piece," Mr Northcote told NZPA.

More divers were arriving on the police boat The Lady Liz today.

The body of pilot Barry Cowley was retrieved on Saturday, but divers have found no signs of co-pilot Paul Miller, Mr Northcote said.

The aircraft's black box arrived in Canberra yesterday for examination.

Investigations so far indicated the plane partially broke up in mid-air. It was on a steep descent from about 14,500ft (4420m), when it vanished from the radar.

- NZPA