Kolkata, Aug 28: The body of Captain Doeke De Graaf, pilot and lone occupant of the ill-fated Sxa 180 American aircraft which crashed in North 24 Parganas district was today taken for postmortem, airport sources said. The pilot of the single seater aircraft belonging to a private operator southern cross aviation was killed and a villager suffered injuries when the plane crashed soon after taking off from the NSC Bose International Airport here last night.

Officials from the US consulate in Kolkata and the regional controller of air safety Ramnath visited the crash site about 30 kms from the airport this morning. Ramnath told a news agency that he would send a report on the crash of the single seater to the Director General Civil Aviation in New Delhi.

Meanwhile, the US consulate officials talked with the air traffic control personnel to know what exactly went wrong with the aircraft, the sources said.

The area was still cordoned off and it would take some time before the wreckage of the aircraft is removed, they said. The single seater had arrived from Bangalore to undergo repairs and refuelling at the airport here. Later it took off to Singapore en route Phuket in Thailand only to crash at Swetpuar village within half an hour of take off at 8.30 pm.

Bureau Report