Twelve killed in Missouri skydiving plane crash

Eleven skydivers and one pilot died when a small plane crashed near Butler Memorial Airport in Missouri on Sunday.

The aircraft, leased by a skydiving company, took off around 11:20 local time, said a Bates County Emergency Management spokesperson. It failed to gain altitude, made a sharp left turn and went down about 200 yards from the runway. All 12 people on board were killed.

Bates County Sheriff Chad Anderson said authorities were treating the incident as a mass casualty. He noted that the plane was a local aircraft that had departed from the local airport, not a commercial airliner.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the plane was a Pacific Aerospace P750. It added that air traffic services were not being provided at the time because the type of airspace did not require the aircraft to be in communication.

Local media reported that first responders searched the area to determine whether any skydivers had jumped before the crash.