Essex police report that an aircraft has crashed at the London Southend Airport. A 12-meter plane was on fire shortly before 16:00 BST today.
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| The huge fireball erupted as the plane crashed into the ground. |
Per the bbc:
John Johnson, 40, from Billericay, Essex, was watching planes with his wife and children when he saw a "huge fireball".
The airport said it would be closed until further notice and passengers due to travel tomorrow should contact their airline for information.
The airport added all flights to and from the site had been cancelled.
A spokesperson said: "Our thoughts are with those affected by today's events and all passengers impacted by this disruption.
"We will restart flight operations as soon as possible and will continue to update the public on developments."
Mr Johnson was at the airport with his wife and children to watch aircraft activity as "my sons are really into planes".
His family waved at the pilots of the aircraft before it went down, he said.
"You could see [the pilots] smiling and we all kind of smiled back, the aircraft then turned 180 degrees to face its take off point, powered up its engines and powered past us, carrying on down the runway," he told the BBC.
"It took off in probably three or four seconds. It started to bank heavily to its left.
"I said to my wife, that's unusual. We don't find aircraft normally turning at that stage in their ascent.
"Within a few seconds of that, the aircraft almost inverted and hit the ground. There was a huge fireball."
He called 999 to report the incident.
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