London Southend Airport was rocked by a airplane crash on Sunday night, resulting in cancellations and delays on the airport hub.
Photographs of a plume of fireside 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 providers 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 programs for transporting sufferers
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The airplane in query was a Beechcraft King Air B200 with twin engines, which is 12 meters (39 toes) lengthy and may carry greater than 20 individuals.
It was on its solution to Lelystad, Netherlands, from Southend Airport, which is residence to its operator, Seusch Aviation.
The airplane 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 programs for transporting sufferers. Zeusch Aviation, which operated the plane specialises in medical evacuation providers 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 crucial care affected person being flown from Jersey to Scotland.
It is unclear if the airplane was getting used for a medical evacuation whereas the reason for the crash remains to be unknown.
Zeusch Aviation, who confirmed its SUZ1 flight had been “concerned in an accident” at London Southend Airport, mentioned in a press release 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 at present 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 airplane 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 number of seconds it had a steep financial institution angle to its left.”
After that, the airplane “nearly 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 data or enquiries concerning the incident.
Chief Superintendent Morgan Cronin mentioned: “In these very early phases it’s critical we collect the knowledge we’d like, and proceed supporting the individuals of Essex.
“Please assist us hold our emergency strains open by utilizing these particular channels if you happen to’re contacting us about this incident.
“We’re working intently with all on the scene, in addition to the Air Accident Investigation Department, to determine 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 response to 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 because of fly on Monday ought to test on-line for up-to-date data.
Southend Airport mentioned: “Our ideas are with these affected by as we speak’s occasions and all passengers impacted by this disruption.
“We are going to restart flight operations as quickly as potential and can proceed to replace the general public on developments.”
