A fireball was seen following the crash, which happened shortly after take-off at London's Southend Airport. Photo / YouTube
An aeroplane has crashed on take-off from Southend Airport in Britain, with pictures from the scene showing a huge fireball.
The crash today NZT reportedly involved a twin-engine Beechcraft King Air B200.
Online flight tracking data suggests an aircraft fitting that description was due to fly to Lelystad, in the Netherlands, in the afternoon.
David Burton-Sampson, the Labour MP for Southend, wrote on X: “I am aware of an incident at Southend Airport. Please keep away and allow the emergency services to do their work. My thoughts are with everyone involved.”
Matt Dent, Southend City Council’s cabinet member for business, culture, music and tourism, posted on X: “I am aware of the live serious incident ongoing at London Southend Airport. At present, all I know is that a small plane has crashed at the airport.
“My thoughts are with all those involved, and with the emergency services currently responding to the incident.”
Heidi Alexander, the Transport Secretary, wrote on X: “I’m aware of the tragic incident at Southend Airport this afternoon. My thoughts are with all those involved.
“The emergency services are on scene and are advising the public to avoid the area where possible. I am monitoring the situation closely and receiving regular updates.”
Essex Police said: “We remain on the scene of a serious incident at Southend airport. We were alerted shortly before 4pm to reports of a collision involving one 12m plane.
“We are working with all emergency services at the scene now, and that work will be ongoing for several hours. We would please ask the public to avoid this area where possible while this work continues.
“As a precaution, due to their proximity to the incident, we are evacuating the Rochford Hundred Golf Club and Westcliff Rugby Club.”
Essex Fire and Rescue Service said in a statement: “We were called to an incident involving a light aircraft at Southend Airport today at 3.58pm. Five crews and two off road vehicles initially attended.
“We are continuing to work at the scene with our partners. Please avoid the area if possible while this work continues.”
The East of England Ambulance Service said four ambulances, a rapid response vehicle, four hazardous area response team vehicles, three senior paramedic cars and Essex and Herts Air Ambulance had been sent to the incident.
An airport spokesman said: “We can confirm there has been a serious incident at London Southend Airport involving a general aviation aircraft”.
A witness who watched the aircraft take-off said he “waved at the pilots” in the moments before the disaster.
John Johnson, who was at Southend Airport with his family at the time of the crash, said he saw a “big fireball” after the plane “crashed head first into the ground”.
Johnson, from Billericay, said: “We all waved at the pilots, and they all waved back at us. The aircraft then turned 180 degrees to face its take-off, departure, powered up, rolled down the runway.
“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 added: “There was a big fireball. Obviously, everybody was in shock in terms of witnessing it. All the kids saw it and the families saw it. I phoned 999, reported it.”
Online flight tracking information suggested that it reached a maximum height of 53m above Southend’s fifth runway, facing to the northeast, before crashing.
Data broadcast by the aeroplane’s automatic onboard systems suggested that it drifted to the left before hitting the ground.
The crashed aircraft, registered PH-ZAZ, had carried out two flights today before the disaster at Southend.
It flew from Athens to Pula Airport, departing the Croatian resort town for Southend on a flight of about three hours.
Yesterday, the Beech B200 had departed from its home base of Lelystad in the Netherlands for Memmingen in southern Germany, before flying to the Greek capital.
A commercial charter website’s entry for PH-ZAZ suggested it was configured as a luxury private aeroplane with up to 12 seats and a comfortable leather interior.
The Beechcraft King Air B200 has two turboprop engines, meaning a jet turbine that spins a propeller, and is capable of carrying around a dozen people. The United States-made planes are widely used as short-haul charter airliners and for carrying light freight.
The plane also carries out medical evacuation flights. Zeusch Aviation, owners of the Beech, listed the aircraft as available for “Medevac [medical evacuation]/ Repatriation / Transplant flights Service” on their own social media profile.
A post on LinkedIn suggested that in June, PH-ZAZ had been used on a medical patient transfer flight between Jersey and Scotland.
Westcliff Rugby Club said it had not been evacuated, contrary to Essex Police’s statement that people would be told to leave the premises about a quarter of a mile north of the airport.
Club spokesperson Lorraine Saccini, 63, told the Telegraph: “No they haven’t evacuated us. I asked the police and fire brigade and they said no.”
Saccini said the crash site was visible from the club’s balcony, adding: “We can see the runway, but we’re not in line with it. There’s a lot of helicopters going around. There’s ambulance, police and everything else there. They put the fire out really quick – they were there within seconds.”
A source from Rochford Hundred Golf Club said the organisation, whose grounds are next to the airport’s northern side, was hosting the quarter-finals of the Essex County Cup. The Telegraph understands the match was abandoned after the plane came down close to the 14th tee.
A bartender at the golf club said he felt a “big heat wave” before looking up to a “massive fireball” in the sky.
James Philpott told the BBC: “I was just basically in a hut like in the middle of the course and I didn’t even see any plane go down or anything and I just felt like a big heat wave come through and I looked up and there was just a massive fireball basically 100 foot in the sky.
“It was more the heat really just kind of hit me as I was sitting there, just like feel like I’m baking.”
He continued: “I think everyone was just quite shocked to be honest. People were sort of running towards it to see if anyone was injured or anything.”
Philpott said he and others were collected from the course and taken back to the clubhouse where they remain now at a “safe distance” with the club closed.
In a notice for pilots, Southend Airport said it was closed with immediate effect from 4.07pm local time and that no air traffic control services would be available.
Photos on social media showed that passengers were in the process of boarding an airliner via a flight of steps when the crash happened a few hundred metres away.
EasyJet confirmed that its flights scheduled to depart from Southend had been cancelled.
“Our thoughts are with all those affected by the incident at London Southend Airport this afternoon,” said a spokesman.
“As the airport is currently closed, all remaining flights to and from London Southend today have been diverted to alternative airports or are no longer able to operate.
“We are doing all we can to support our customers and have contacted them directly with options to rebook or receive a refund and are arranging hotel accommodation and meals for those who require them.”
Aideen Cowling, a mother-of-two, had just got out of her car at the airport when she looked up to see a massive fireball emerging from the wreckage.
The 40-year-old was about to catch a flight for a 10-day summer holiday in Mallorca with her children, aged 6 and 3, and husband, Blair, 44.
She said: “I just saw this massive fireball. By the time I said: Blair, look at that, there was no fireball. He only saw the black smoke.”
Cowling said a pair of workers in hi-vis clothing explained that sometimes the fire brigade do an exercise, “so it’s probably just them training. Don’t worry and get your flight.”
He added: “But then a couple just in front of us said: I don’t think it is. I think a plane has just crashed.”
The couple, from Bexleyheath, Essex, added that they were the last in line to check their luggage before being told that the flight had been cancelled.
Adrian Gaudin, 26, said he had fastened his seatbelt on his flight back to Paris, France, when he saw the thick black smoke billowing from the wreckage.
The receptionist had been staying in north London with friends to attend last weekend’s Wireless musical festival in Finsbury Park.
He told the Telegraph: “We were already on the flight and they told us to get off. I saw a huge cloud on the runway.
“It’s so bad, but I was just like: get me home. I didn’t think they would cancel everything.”
John Dansie was set to fly to Mallorca with his wife for a wedding anniversary but has been stranded after his flight to Palma was cancelled.
The 54-year-old has had an alternative flight booked from Luton and had a hotel room booked near the airport.
He said: “It’s just devastating. The staff are being very helpful.”
Some flights set to land at the airport have been diverted to Gatwick Airport, the Telegraph understands.
Zeusch Aviation, based at Lelystad Airport in the Netherlands, confirmed one of its aircraft was involved in the crash.
A statement from the firm said: “We can confirm that Zeusch Aviation flight SUZ1 was involved in an accident today at London Southend Airport.
“We are actively supporting the authorities with the investigation and will provide updates on this page as more information becomes available.
“Our thoughts are with everyone who has been affected.”