TWO men had a miracle escape after their plane crash-landed just yards from a busy golf course.

Emergency services, including dozens of fire fighters from across the county and Bournemouth Airport’s own fire crews, dashed to a field between Manor Farm at Kinson and Longham’s Dudsbury Golf Club after golfers raised the alarm at about 12.30pm.

International flights from Bournemouth Airport were grounded while investigators sought to rule out defective fuel as the cause of the 8-seater King Air's forced landing.

Eyewitness Steve Pockneall, the club professional at Dudsbury Golf Club, dialled 999 as he watched the twin-engined plane rapidly lose height and head towards golfers on the 13th fairway.

“I was stood outside the club house and saw the plane heading towards the 11th green. We often see planes coming over, but usually they are gaining height and this was losing altitude,” he said.

“I believe it was trying to come down on the 13th fairway, which is broad, but there were lots of people on it, including a former pilot who was frantically waving.

“It banked hard left and hit the trees on the Dudsbury side of the River Stour.

“I jumped into a golf buggy and dialled 999 and talked to the emergency control room while I drove down.

“I arrived with every expectation of finding fire and serious injuries or worse. To see two guys standing there was incredible. I can only put it down to the skill of the pilot who brought the plane down on its belly.

“How they missed the River Stour, I don’t know.”

It is understood the two men onboard the aircraft were not seriously injured in the crash.

The aircraft’s propellers and nose were damaged by the impact, but the windscreen was intact.

A Thomson Airways flight from Bournemouth Airport to Sharm el-Sheikh was grounded over concerns that the aircraft had been filled with the same fuel as the stricken aircraft.

Two Ryanair flights were delayed until investigators established that the aircraft had been fuelled from a separate source.

Stuart Granger, a fire station manager based at Dorset Fire and Rescue Service’s county headquarters in Dorchester, said fire crews believed that the aircraft had been fully laden with up to 400 litres of fuel.

They doused it in absorbent foam to prevent ignition of fuel vapour.