Twelve people aboard a skydiving plane, including the pilot, were killed when the aircraft crashed in Missouri, according to authorities.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol said on social media that the fatal crash occurred near the Butler Memorial Airport, located about 60 miles south of Kansas City. State troopers were on the scene along with the Butler Police Department and Bates County Sheriff’s Office.
Missouri Highway Patrol Sgt. Justin Ewing said the plane was taking people up to skydive when it crashed into a field adjacent to the airport. Emergency responders got a call that a plane was down and engulfed in fire around 11:30 a.m. Sunday, he said.
The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed the aircraft was a Pacific Aerospace P750. The plane is a single-engine turboprop model that’s popular for skydiving but has also proven useful for other uses, including cargo, aerial surveying and medical evacuation flights.
The agency said air traffic services “were not being provided at the time” of the crash.
“It was completely perpendicular with the wings to the sky, to the ground, going fast. And then they just hit the ground,” Bailey Reed, an eyewitness to the crash, told CBS News.
“The plane just completely like shattered with the ground,” she said. “The ground and trees around it exploded and it just lit up in flames.”
She said the people on board would have had no chance to try to deploy parachutes.
“They didn’t have time to jump. They were so low to the ground, the parachutes wouldn’t have deployed, and there was no way anyone could have jumped and survived that,” Reed said.
The crash will be investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board, Ewing said.
The aircraft, which can carry as many as 17 skydivers, is capable of taking off and landing on short runways. The plane that crashed Sunday was manufactured in 2010, according to FAA records.
A spokesperson for the NTSB told CBS News in a statement that the agency is gathering information.
Skydive Kansas City said in a statement that the plane was “operated in support of skydiving operations” at the skydiving center.
“This is a devastating loss for everyone connected to Skydive Kansas City and for the wider skydiving community,” the organization said. “Our deepest sympathies are with the families, friends, and loved ones of all who were lost.”
“Skydive Kansas City is working closely with local authorities, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB),” the group added. “At this time, the focus of the management and ownership team is to assist investigators and to support the staff and the broader skydiving community. The entire team is in shock, and the community is close-knit.”