A dozen people were killed after their plane crashed in Butler, Missouri, on Sunday, police said.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol said first responders were called about a crash with a plane engulfed in flames at around 11:30 a.m.
Missouri Highway Patrol Sgt. Justin Ewing said it was carrying a group of skydivers and called the crash scene “brutal,” noting that it landed in a field adjacent to the airport.
The private plane, a Pacific Aerospace 750XL, was operated by Skydive Kansas City, according to Dennis Jacobs, the acting airport manager and Bates County Emergency Management Agency director, the Associated Press reported.
“It had just taken off and made a left turn” prior to the crash, Jacobs said. “In my opinion, I think it was losing power and he was trying to make it over to the highway and land and he stalled and went down nose first and caught fire.”
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Teams with the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board were on their way to the scene to investigate, the Missouri Highway Patrol said. The plane crashed near Butler Memorial Airport; Butler is roughly 65 miles south of Kansas City.
The Pacific Aerospace 750XL can carry up to 17 people and can land and take off from short runways. The aircraft involved in Sunday’s crash was manufactured in 2010, according to the FAA.
