9 killed in Sweden plane crash

STOCKHOLM: JULY 9 – All nine on board were killed after a small airplane crashed at a Swedish airport on Thursday night, local media reported on Friday.

The plane, with eight skydivers and a pilot aboard, crashed shortly after taking off from the airport in Orebro, 160 km west of the capital Stockholm, at around 7.20 p.m. local time (1720 GMT) on Thursday.

After hitting the ground, the plane was engulfed in fire, Swedish Television reported on Friday morning.

“The accident happened shortly after takeoff and the plane did not climb far before hitting the ground,” the accident investigator Peter Swaffer of the Swedish Accident Investigation Authority was quoted by Swedish newspaper Expressen as saying.

Swaffer is leading a three-man team sent to the site to investigate the accident, but there has been no immediate report about the cause of the accident as of Friday morning.

Local authorities have also set up a crisis response team to attend to traumatized relatives and friends of the victims.

-XINHUA