Heartbreaking Loss: Children Remembered After Queensland Plane Crash Tragedy

Tragic details emerge as children killed in Queensland plane crash remembered

Lucas and Lavinia Mocanu died with their father when the light aircraft they were travelling in crashed into water near Brisbane.

The two children who died in the tragic Brisbane plane crash were on board as part of a surprise birthday present for their father.

Lucas Mocanu, nine, his sister Lavinia, 10,

and their father Cris, 41, died when the light aircraft they were travelling in crashed into water shortly after taking off from Redcliffe on Sunday.

Pilot Robert Watterson, 67, who Mr Mocanu worked for, also died.

The children’s mother, Catherine Di Blasio, said the trip was a surprise to celebrate Lucas’s birthday.

“He (Lucas) had his birthday in November and his dad told them it was a surprise, a gift, but all he said was it was an experience that the kids would enjoy,” Ms Di Blasio told the Courier-Mail.

Ms Di Blasio, who is separated from Mr Mocanu, said she had no idea they were flying.

Lucas, Lavinia and their mother.

The pilot has been identified as Robert “Roy” Watterson.

She was wrapping Christmas presents when police knocked on her door and told her the news.

“Even the guy had a hard time talking to me, he didn’t know what words to use, it was horrible,” she said.

Ms Di Blasio last saw her children on Sunday morning when she took them to see their father.

“I just told them ‘have a good time, I love you’,” she said.

“My son turned around and said ‘I love you mummy’ and then they left.”

She said she was still trying to come to terms with their loss.

The plane crashed shortly after take-off.

Aerial footage from 7NEWS showed the plane, registered to Mr Watterson, sinking into the water and flipping over.

Police confirmed on Sunday that four people had died in the crash and shared tragic details about the pilot’s family, who were waiting for the 67-year-old to return at the hangar.

QLD Police Inspector Craig White told reporters: “There were a number of family members of the pilot who were at Redcliff Airfield at the time of the crash.”

“The family are deeply traumatised as you would expect.”

The plane was recovered on Monay.

Several members of Ms Di Blasio and Mr Mocanu’s families are flying in from Canada to be with her.

A GoFundMe set up to support Ms Di Blasio has so far raised more than $11,000.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating the crash and will recover the plane on Monday.

The investigation is expected to last eight weeks.