AN inquest was opened into the deaths of two Gwent men killed in a plane crash.

But the cause of the deaths of William Mills, 66, from Glascoed, near Usk, and Paul Sweeting, 33, originally from Tredegar but living in Caerphilly, will not be known until after an investigation into the accident is completed, the inquest was told.

The two men were killed when the two-seater light aircraft came down at Magor on Friday afternoon.

At the opening of the inquest at Gwent Coroner's office, in Newport, yesterday, coroner's officer Kenneth Le Prevost said: "There is an extensive inquiry by the Civil Aviation Authority and it will be some time before the findings of the investigation are known."

Gwent coroner David Bowen said: "I will authorise the release of the bodies of Mr Mills and Mr Sweeting to the relatives and I'm going to adjourn this inquiry indefinitely pending the conclusion of the investigation."

Post mortem examinations have been carried out to determine how they died.

Mr Bowen declared the cause of deaths as "not presently determined".

Families of the two friends were not present at the short hearing.

Witnesses described seeing the Europa plane "explode" before it came down near Barecroft Common, Magor.

Wreckage was scattered over fields and roads, narrowly missing traffic.

Mr Le Prevost told the inquest: "Police attended the scene and subsequently two bodies were recovered.

"The light aircraft was registered to Mr Mills.

"He and Mr Sweeting were known to be flying it at the time."

Mr Mills had been flying the make for more than 10 years and clocked up around 200 hours a year.

The aircraft had been based at an airstrip in Kemeys Commander, near Usk, for about the past year.

He and Mr Sweeting often flew together, including one trip to Scandinavia in 2004.