BRUSSELS: A plane carrying parachutists for a skydiving trip crashed in southern Belgium on Saturday, killing all 11 people aboard.
Minutes after the aircraft took off from a small airfield near the city of Namur, witnesses saw part of a wing break off, sending the plane into a spiraling nosedive and crash in a field close to Fernelmont town, said its mayor, Jean-Claude Nihoul.
The skydivers and their instructors “were not able to jump out,” Nihoul said in a telephone interview.
Everyone aboard was killed, he said, adding that three parachutes were found near the crash site. No information was immediately available about what caused the accident.
The Pilatus PC-6 Turbo Porter plane took off in partly cloudy conditions over the wooded and hilly area about 60 km south of Brussels.
11 skydivers die in plane crash
