Not far from London, in the area of Southend airport, a small aircraft crashed immediately after takeoff. According to The Daily Mail, we are talking about a Beechcraft King Air B200 business jet, which was supposed to travel to the Netherlands.
According to the source, the plane was scheduled to depart at 15:45 local time (17:45 Moscow time), with Lelystad as the final destination. At the moment there is no information about the number of people on board the twin-engine turboprop. Usually it is operated by a crew of 1-2 pilots, and the capacity is up to 13 passengers.
Flightradar service indicates that the plane remained in close proximity to the runway after leaving the ground. According to The Daily Mail, it apparently took off at just under 200 km/h, climbed to a height of about 5 meters and then crashed.
British media and social media users are publishing photos from the scene showing a large-scale fire and thick puffs of black smoke.
Four flights scheduled for Sunday evening from Southend, located in the county of Essex, have been canceled. Two planes bound for Southend were diverted to other London airports, Gatwick and Stansted.
Essex Police confirmed the incident had occurred. In a statement, law enforcement said they are working at the scene of a serious incident at Southend Airport. A collision involving a single 12m aircraft was reported at around 4pm. Emergency services are on the scene and work will continue for several more hours. Police are asking citizens to avoid the area while operations are underway.
Earlier in the US, a plane collapsed with 14 people on board. It was also reported that the Indian authorities are considering sabotage among the causes of the crash of the boeing.