12 Dead in Missouri Skydiving Plane Crash

Missouri. 12 people on board a skydiving airplane died in a plane crash in the US state of Missouri.

According to local officials, the deceased include 11 skydivers and one pilot.

According to a spokesperson for the Bots County Emergency Management, the plane, chartered by a skydiving company, took off on Sunday around 11:20 AM local time. The spokesperson informed the BBC that shortly after takeoff, the plane took a sharp left turn without gaining sufficient altitude and crashed about two hundred yards from Butler Memorial Airport. He confirmed that all 12 people on board the plane died at the scene.

Bots County Sheriff Chad Anderson stated at a press conference held in the afternoon that an investigation is underway into this incident, considering it a tragic accident with a large number of casualties. The Sheriff clarified that this was not a commercial passenger plane but a local aircraft that had taken off from the local airport. According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the aircraft was a 'Pacific Aerospace P750' model and crashed during its departure from the airport.

The FAA stated that no air traffic service was provided to the aircraft at the time of the crash. According to the spokesperson, continuous communication was not required during the flight as per the rules in the airspace where the plane was flying.

According to local media, rescuers also searched the surrounding area to see if any skydivers had managed to jump from the plane before the crash. According to Sheriff Anderson, some family members of the deceased witnessed this horrific accident firsthand. Officials have not yet released the identities or personal details of the deceased.

The city of Butler, where the accident occurred, is about 50 miles south of the Kansas City metropolitan area. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is leading the main investigation into this plane crash.