US flying school plane crash: Indians identified

Oceanside: Two men who were in a small plane that crashed into a power pole and sewage pipe in Oceanside, causing a geyser of sludge, have been identified.
Amandeep Singh, 24, was piloting a Cessna 172 Skyhawk, and Harshdeep Multani, 18, was his passenger, when the plane crashed at 10:44 a.m. Saturday near the Oceanside Swap Meet on Mission Road, east of the Oceanside Municipal Airport and about 300 yards from a residential neighborhood, according to Oceanside police and the Federal Aviation Administration.Witnesses said the plane flew low over the airport and clipped a power pole.
The four-seater plane, registered to the California Flight Academy, also struck and broke a valve on an above-ground pipe at a sewage pumping station that spewed about 25,000 gallons of effluent, said Oceanside police Sgt. Kelan Poorman.
A 30-foot geyser of sewage rained down on rescuers as they freed the pilot, whose leg was pinned inside the plane.
It took at least 30 minutes to pull the pilot out of the plane, which was nearly wrapped around the utility pole. A witness said firefighters carefully worked to extract the pilot’s trapped leg and protect him from the sewage that was spraying over the wreckage. He said ankle-deep pools of liquid were on the ground — a mix of rainwater, raw sewage and aviation fluid — and live power lines were above the plane, making for a hazardous rescue.
Singh suffered a broken pelvis and four severed fingers. He was taken by helicopter to Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, where he was in fair condition.
The pilot took off from Gillespie Field in El Cajon and was heading to Torrance Municipal Airport when the crash occurred, said FAA spokesman Ian Gregor.
26/01/09 San Diego 6, USA