No fewer than eleven skydivers and one pilot have been killed in a plane crash in the US state of Missouri, officials said.
According to a Bates County Emergency Management spokeswoman, the skydiving company-leased plane took off about 11:20 a.m. local time on Sunday.
The representative informed the BBC that after failing to gain altitude, the aircraft made a sudden left turn and crashed about 200 yards from Butler Memorial Airport. He reported that all 12 individuals on board died.
“We are treating that … as a mass casualty,” Bates County Sheriff Chad Anderson said during an afternoon news conference.
The sheriff stated that the plane was not a commercial airliner but rather “a local airplane that took off from our local airport.”
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) noted that the plane was a Pacific Aerospace P750 and crashed while departing the airport.
“Air traffic services were not being provided at the time,” the FAA said. A spokesperson explained that the plane was not required to be in communication due to the type of air space it was flying in.
According to local media, first responders checked the area to see if any of the skydivers had jumped from the plane before the crash.
The sheriff added that some of the deceased’s family members observed the incident.
Authorities have not released details about the victims’ names.
Butler is approximately 50 miles south of the Kansas City metropolitan region.
The FAA stated that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is leading the investigation into the disaster.
