Small plane crashes after takeoff at London Southend Airport
LONDON AP A small plane crashed shortly after takeoff Sunday at London Southend Airport which was closed until further notice bureaucrats and bystanders disclosed No information on any casualties was forthwith available The plane operated by Zeusch Aviation in the Netherlands had flown from Athens Greece to Pula Croatia on Sunday before heading to Southend It was due to return to Lelystad Netherlands on Sunday evening Zeusch Aviation ratified its SUZ flight had been involved in an accident and declared the company was supporting the assessment Our thoughts are with everyone who has been affected its announcement stated British media revealed the crash involved a Beechcraft B Super King Air equipped with therapeutic systems for transporting patients It s a turboprop aircraft meters feet long London Southend is a relatively small airport around miles kilometers east of the capital All flights to and from the airport were canceled until further notice while police urgency services and air investigators worked at the scene Images circulated on social media showing a plume of fire and black smoke emanating from the crash site Witness John Johnson who was at the airport with his family explained he saw a big fireball after the plane crashed head first into the ground It took off and about three or four seconds after taking off it started to bank heavily to its left and then within a limited seconds of that happening it more or less inverted and crashed just head-first into the ground he reported Johnson revealed that before the plane got into position for takeoff he and his family waved at the pilots and they all waved back at us Essex Police noted it was alerted just before p m to the serious occurrence at the airport Source