Investigators are sifting through the wreckage of a small plane that crashed in Missouri on Sunday, as witnesses describe the aircraft’s deadly descent.
The crash occurred near Butler at about 11:20 local time (16:20 GMT), when a skydiving plane carrying 11 passengers and a pilot spun out of control and plunged to the ground, killing everyone on board. The victims have not yet been identified publicly.
A spokesperson for the National Transportation Safety Board told the BBC that investigators left on Monday morning for the crash site.
Bailey Reed, who witnessed the crash, told the BBC’s US partner CBS News the plane was “completely perpendicular” and “going fast” as it slammed into the ground.
“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.”
Charles Crinklaw, a regular sky diver in Kansas City – located roughly 50 miles from Butler – told local news: “Everybody on that plane was somebody that I know.”
“I know four of them very, very well. They jumped with me [at Falcon Skydiving] on a regular basis,” he said, speaking to a Kansas City NBC News affiliate.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the plane was a Pacific Aerospace P750 and crashed while departing the airport.
Skydive Kansas City, the company that runs the skydiving operation in the region, called the incident “devastating loss” for “the wider skydiving community”.
“Our deepest sympathies are with the families, friends, and loved ones of all who were lost,” the company said in a statement to the BBC.
It said it was working closely with the FAA and the NTSB as the federal agencies investigate the incident.
The FAA said the plane was not using its air traffic services at the time, explaining that it was not required to be in communication because of the type of air space it flew within.
Bates County Sheriff Chad Anderson said during a press conference on Sunday that his team was treating it as a “mass casualty” incident.
