London Southend Airport will remain closed until further notice after a plane crashed in what witnesses described as a \u201cfireball\u201d.
\nEssex Police said it was alerted to a plane on fire at the site in Southend-on-Sea shortly before 16:00 BST on Sunday.
\nOn its website, the airport said all Monday\u2019s flights – departures and arrivals – had been \u201crerouted\u201d. It urged passengers to check with their airline for advice.
\nThere has been no confirmation of the number of casualties.
\nDutch company Zeusch Aviation confirmed that its SUZ1 flight had been \u201cinvolved in an accident\u201d at the airport.
\nBased at Lelystad Airport in The Netherlands, the company said it was actively supporting authorities with the investigation, and that its thoughts were with \u201ceveryone who has been affected\u201d.
\nThe plane had flown from the Greek capital Athens to Pula in Croatia on Sunday before heading to Southend, with a planned return to Lelystad Airport that evening.
\nJohn Johnson, 40, from Billericay, Essex, was watching planes with his wife and children when he saw a \u201chuge fireball\u201d after the plane crashed \u201chead first into the ground\u201d.
\n\u201cYou 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,\u201d he told the BBC.
\n\u201cIt took off in probably three or four seconds. It started to bank heavily to its left.
\n\u201cI said to my wife, \u2018That\u2019s unusual.\u2019 We don\u2019t find aircraft normally turning at that stage in their ascent.
\n\u201cWithin a few seconds of that, the aircraft almost inverted and hit the ground. There was a huge fireball.\u201d
\nHe called 999 to report the incident.
\nJames Philpott, a bartender at the Rochford Hundred Golf Club, had been in a hut in the middle of the course when he felt \u201ca big heatwave\u201d.
\n\u201cI looked up and there was a massive fireball, basically,\u201d he told the BBC.
\n\u201cEveryone was just quite shocked\u2026 we haven\u2019t seen anything like this.
\n\u201cPeople were sort of running towards it to see if anyone was injured.\u201d
\nPeople were evacuated from the course due to its close proximity to the crash, but Mr Philpott said some people remained in the clubhouse as it was further away.
\nPete Jones, chairman of Westcliff Rugby Club, which is also near the airport, said people at the club did not have to evacuate following the plane crash.
\nHe said the aircraft went down about 1km (0.6 miles) from the clubhouse and that people there could see smoke in the aftermath.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
London Southend Airport will remain closed until further notice after a plane crashed in what witnesses described as a \u201cfireball\u201d. Essex Police said it was alerted to a plane on fire at the site in Southend-on-Sea shortly before 16:00 BST on Sunday. On its website, the airport said all Monday\u2019s flights – departures and arrivals […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490308,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-490290","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n