Two people have survived a light airplane crash after making an emergency landing on a beach near Durban, South Africa.

The aircraft suffered an engine failure after take off and carried out an emergency landing on a beach south of Virginia Airport (VIR), Durban, South Africa, Saturday afternoon.

The aircraft was partially submerged in the sea. The two occupants onboard were not injured.

Kyle van Reenen, spokesperson for Crisis Medical said they found a light aircraft on the sand along the Durban north shoreline, shortly after 16:30.

“Luckily the pilot and co-pilot did not sustain any injuries in the ordeal and were both checked out and given a clean bill of health on the scene,” he said.

According to photos, the aircraft is a Yakovlev Yak-18T, registration ZU-BHR.

Yakovlev Yak-18T (Russian: Яковлев Як-18T) is a four or five seat fully aerobatic utility aircraft.

Introduced to train Aeroflot pilots, it has gained some popularity as a sportplane both inside and outside the former USSR.

The plane is powered by a 268-298 kW (360-400 hp) Vedeneyev M14P radial engine.