Plane crashes at London Southend Airport LIVE: A small plane crashed shortly after takeoff Sunday at London Southend Airport in Essex on Sunday. Following this, the airport on England’s south-east coast said that it has closed operations until further notice.
In a post on X, London’s Southend Airport said, “All flights to and from the airport have been cancelled while police, emergency services and air accident investigators are attending the incident.”
“We remain on the scene of a serious incident at Southend Airport,” the local Essex police said.
Casualties are yet to be ascertained.
A ‘serious’ incident
According to the Associated Press, the Essex Police said it was alerted just before 4 pm to the “serious incident” at the airport. They cited reports of a collision involving a 12-metre (39.4-foot) plane.
The East of England Ambulance Service said it had sent four ambulances and other response vehicles. The airport’s website showed five international flights had been cancelled following the accident
What we know about the plane:
The plane was operated by Zeusch Aviation in the Netherlands. It had flown from Athens, Greece, to Pula, Croatia, on Sunday before heading to Southend. It was due to return to Lelystad, Netherlands, on Sunday evening.
Zeusch Aviation confirmed its SUZ1 flight had been involved in an accident and said the company was supporting the investigation. “Our thoughts are with everyone who has been affected,” its statement said.
Meanwhile, British media claimed the crash involved a Beechcraft B200 Super King Air equipped with medical systems for transporting patients. It’s a turboprop aircraft 12 meters (39 feet) long.
Southend-on-Sea is about 65 kilometres (40 miles) east of the capital and is the sixth largest airport in the London area.
Viral videos and photos
Images circulated on social media showing a plume of fire and black smoke emanating from the crash site. Meanwhile, video footage showed a 12-metre plane in flames at Southend-on-Sea, an airport east of London.
Witness John Johnson, who was at the airport with his family, said he saw a “big fireball” after the plane “crashed head first into the ground.”
“It took off and about three or four seconds after taking off, it started to bank heavily to its left, and then within a few seconds of that happening, it more or less inverted and crashed just head-first into the ground,” he said.
Johnson said that before the plane got into position for takeoff, he and his family waved at the pilots and “they all waved back at us.”