Fireball erupts as small plane crashes at Southend airport
The crash on Sunday afternoon reportedly involved a twin-engine Beechcraft King Air B200.
Online flight tracking data suggest an aircraft fitting that description was due to fly to Lelystad, in the Netherlands, in the afternoon.
David Burton-Sampson, the Labour MP for Southend, wrote on X: 'I am aware of an incident at Southend airport. Please keep away and allow the emergency services to do their work. My thoughts are with everyone involved.'
Essex Police said in a statement: 'We remain on the scene of a serious incident at Southend airport. We were alerted shortly before 4pm to reports of a collision involving one 12-metre plane.
'We are working with all emergency services at the scene now, and that work will be ongoing for several hours. We would please ask the public to avoid this area where possible while this work continues.'
Southend airport has been contacted for comment.
The Beechcraft King Air B200 is capable of carrying around a dozen people. The US-made planes are widely used as short-haul charter airliners and for carrying light freight.
In a notice for pilots, Southend airport said it was closed with immediate effect from 4.07pm and that no air traffic control services would be available.
It is understood that easyJet's scheduled flights serving Southend have been cancelled for the rest of the day.
Photos on social media suggested that passengers were in the process of boarding an airliner by climbing a flight of steps when the crash occurred a few hundred metres away.
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