Small plane crashes at regional London Southend Airport, all flights there cancelled
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Smoke rising at London Southend Airport in Britain on July 13.
PHOTOS: SCREENGRAB FROM NICKSORTOR/X, OSINTUPDATES/X
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LONDON – A small plane has crashed at a London regional airport, the police and London Southend Airport announced on July 13.
Video footage showed a 12m plane in flames with a plume of black smoke at Southend-on-Sea, an airport east of London.
“We are working with all emergency services at the scene now and that work will be ongoing for several hours,” said a statement from the Essex police in Britain.
The police said they had been alerted a little before 4pm local time (11pm Singapore time).
A statement from London Southend Airport confirmed there had been “a serious incident” on the afternoon of July 13.
“We are working closely with the local authorities and will be able to provide more information as soon as possible,” it added.
Later on July 13, it announced the airport’s closure “until further notice”.
“All flights to and from the airport have been cancelled while police, emergency services and air accident investigators are attending the incident,” it added.
In a post on X, British Transport Minister Heidi Alexander said she was aware of the “tragic incident” and was following developments closely.
According to the BBC, the plane, a Beechcraft B200, crashed soon after take-off.
Southend-on-Sea is about 65km east of the capital, and the airport there is the sixth largest one in the London area. AFP
