Sydney: Two pilots involved in fighting a bushfire in Western Australia had a miraculous escape after their Boeing 737 plane crashed on Monday.
The water-bombing plane left a trail of scar where it crashed while putting out fire in the Fitzgerald National Park about 420 km (260 miles) southeast of Perth, AFP reported.
Aerial images taken afterwards the accident showed black smoke coming from the aircraft with the rear of the fuselage going up in fire.
The tail section got separated from the rest of the flight, showed images captured by emergency services.
How the two pilots came out of the crashed aircraft with its tail section still in fire remains a wonder, reports say.
Stephen Dawson, the state's emergency services minister, termed the pilots’ escape as nothing short of miraculous adding “they were able to walk from that plane”.
The two pilots who have not been identified were released from hospital a day after the accident.
The air tanker, which is a converted passenger plane, crashed just 20 seconds after watering the area where a bushfire was raging.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau called the incident first "collision with terrain" involving a Boeing 737 in Australia, according to the report.