London Southend Airport was rocked by a aircraft crash on Sunday night, resulting in cancellations and delays on the airport hub.
Pictures of a plume of fireplace and black smoke rising from the crash web site rapidly went viral on social media.
The comparatively small airport is situated about 45 miles (72 kilometres) east of the capital, and Essex Police mentioned it was notified of the “serious incident” on the airport shortly earlier than 4pm.
Essex Police said on the time, “We’re working with all emergency companies on the scene now and that work might be ongoing for a number of hours.”
What different particulars have been made public? Right here’s the whole lot we all know.
The place was the flight headed?
The plane was geared up with medical methods for transporting sufferers
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The aircraft in query was a Beechcraft King Air B200 with twin engines, which is 12 meters (39 ft) lengthy and might carry greater than 20 individuals.
It was on its method to Lelystad, Netherlands, from Southend Airport, which is dwelling to its operator, Seusch Aviation.
The aircraft had solely arrived at Southend Airport within the morning on July 13, having flown over from Pula, Croatia.
The plane was geared up with medical methods for transporting sufferers. Zeusch Aviation, which operated the plane specialises in medical evacuation companies and transplant flights, and in addition runs non-public charters.
In June, the enterprise posted on LinkedIn an image that appeared to point out a essential care affected person being flown from Jersey to Scotland.
It is unclear if the aircraft was getting used for a medical evacuation whereas the reason for the crash continues to be unknown.
Zeusch Aviation, who confirmed its SUZ1 flight had been “concerned in an accident” at London Southend Airport, mentioned in an announcement that the corporate was “actively supporting the authorities with the investigation”.
Are there any casualties?
No casualties have been reported on the time of writing and its presently unknown how many individuals have been on board when the tragedy occurred.
A person who was on the airport together with his spouse and youngsters mentioned that the aircraft crashed just some seconds after it took off at 3:48pm.
He went on to say: “All of us waved [back] at them. They turned again and continued taxiing to their takeoff location.”
“Then they throttled up the engines and handed by us. The plane took off and inside a couple of seconds it had a steep financial institution angle to its left.”
After that, the aircraft “virtually appeared to invert and sadly crashed,” he mentioned. “There was a big fireball.”
Essex Police stay on the scene on Monday morning, the place a large cordon is in place. Moreover, Essex Police has established a phone line and internet hyperlink for anybody with info or enquiries concerning the incident.
Chief Superintendent Morgan Cronin mentioned: “In these very early levels it is important we collect the knowledge we’d like, and proceed supporting the individuals of Essex.
“Please assist us preserve our emergency strains open through the use of these particular channels when you’re contacting us about this incident.
“We’re working intently with all on the scene, in addition to the Air Accident Investigation Department, to ascertain what has occurred and why.”
Is Southend Airport open?
Southend Airport will keep closed till additional discover.
5 international flights have been cancelled after the accident, in line with the airport’s web site.
EasyJet, one of many few airways that makes use of the airport, has cancelled all flights on Sunday to and from the airport and mentioned anybody attributable to fly on Monday ought to test on-line for up-to-date info.
Southend Airport mentioned: “Our ideas are with these affected by right this moment’s occasions and all passengers impacted by this disruption.
“We’ll restart flight operations as quickly as attainable and can proceed to replace the general public on developments.”
