A Cessna light aircraft crashed into the sea near the beach resort of Egmond aan Zee on Wednesday morning, but both people on board survived.

The Cessna-172 was some 53 kilometres from the coast when it crashed. It had taken off from Den Helder in Noord Holland to take aerial photographs.

The coastguard were alerted at around 09.00 hours by a distress call sent out automatically when the plane hit the water. Four boats, two helicopters and another plane were involved in the search.

One of the crew was unconscious when the plane was found, the other was conscious but suffering from exposure.