London: Southend airport to remain closed following aircraft crash

London Southend Airport will stay closed until further notice after a plane crash led to what witnesses described as a “fireball”.

Essex Police said it received reports of a 12-metre aircraft on fire at the airport in Southend-on-Sea shortly before 16:00 BST on Sunday.

The airport announced on its website that all flights scheduled for Monday—both departures and arrivals—have been “rerouted” and advised passengers to check directly with their airlines for updates.

So far, there has been no official confirmation regarding the number of casualties.

The Dutch company Zeusch Aviation confirmed that its SUZ1 flight had been “involved in an accident” at London Southend Airport. Based at Lelystad Airport in the Netherlands, the firm said it was assisting authorities with the investigation and added that its thoughts were with “everyone who has been affected”.

Flight tracking data shows the aircraft—a Beech B200 Super King Air—had flown from Athens, Greece, to Pula, Croatia, before heading to Southend. It was scheduled to return to Lelystad later that evening.

John Johnson, 40, from Billericay, Essex, had taken his wife and children to the airport to watch planes when the crash happened.

“You 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,” he said.
“It took off in probably three or four seconds. It started to bank heavily to its left.

I said to my wife, that’s unusual. We don’t find aircraft normally turning at that stage in their ascent.
Within a few seconds of that, the aircraft almost inverted and hit the ground. There was a huge fireball.”

Mr Johnson said he called 999 after witnessing the crash.

James Philpott, a bartender at the Rochford Hundred Golf Club, was on the course when the crash occurred.

“I looked up and there was a massive fireball, basically,” he said.
“Everyone was just quite shocked… we haven’t seen anything like this.
People were sort of running towards it to see if anyone was injured.”

While people were evacuated from parts of the golf course due to its proximity to the crash, some remained in the clubhouse, which was further away.

Nearby, Westcliff Rugby Club had around 250 people attending an event. Club chairman Pete Jones said evacuation was initially considered but later called off.

“That didn’t happen in the end, police changed their mind,” he said.
“We’ve got a big event there, 250 people, and they just said no, you don’t have to evacuate.”

He added that the aircraft crashed around 1,000 metres from the clubhouse and that smoke was visible from the grounds.

Essex Police confirmed it is working with the Air Accidents Investigation Branch to understand what happened.

Chief Superintendent Morgan Cronin said: “In these very early stages it is vital we gather the information we need, and continue supporting the people of Essex.”

Experts said the aircraft involved is commonly used for various operations including medical evacuation and aerial mapping. One aviation expert noted that the aircraft’s reported left turn might point to “loss of power in the left engine”.

“It’s a bit like an all purpose vehicle and we can see that it has been rented out for roles including medical evacuation, moving transplant material, aerial mapping, that sort of thing,” the expert said.
“The profile of this crash,” with witnesses describing the plane veering to the left, suggested “loss of power in the left engine.”

Records of similar aircraft showed “similar crashes over the last 10 years or so.”
“One in particular, in Australia, there was a warning after that crash that the throttle levers that control the power to the two engines could slip back, reducing the power,” he added.

“One former aviation accident investigator that I’ve spoken to said that is an area that might be investigated but these planes can fly with one engine.

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