A historic military plane crashes after colliding with another plane during an airshow at Dallas Executive Airport in Dallas on Saturday. (Photo: Nathaniel Ross/Nathaniel Ross Photography via AP)
Eko Hot Blog reports that six people were killed after two military planes collided and crashed to the ground Saturday afternoon during a Dallas air show in Texas, United States.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins disclosed the number of fatalities in a tweet on Sunday.
“According to our Dallas County Medical Examiner, there are a total of 6 fatalities from yesterday’s Wings over Dallas air show incident,” Jenkins tweeted.
He added that authorities are continuing to work to identify the victims.
Emergency crews raced to the crash scene at the Dallas Executive Airport, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the city’s downtown.
Dallas Fire-Rescue told The Dallas Morning News that there were no reported injuries among people on the ground.
According to NPR, Anthony Montoya saw the two planes collide.
“I just stood there. I was in complete shock and disbelief,” said Montoya, 27, who attended the air show with a friend. “Everybody around was gasping. Everybody was bursting into tears. Everybody was in shock.”
Officials did not specify how many people were inside each plane, but Hank Coates, president of the company that put on the airshow, said one of the planes, a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber, typically has a crew of four to five people. The other, a P-63 Kingcobra fighter plane, has a single pilot.
Debris from two planes that crashed during an airshow at Dallas Executive Airport are shown in Dallas on Saturday. (Photo: LM Otero/AP)
Coates, a member of Commemorative Air Force, which also owned the planes, noted that no paying customers were on the aircraft, adding that their aircraft are flown by highly trained volunteers, often retired pilots.
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said the National Transportation Safety Board had taken control of the crash scene, with local police and fire providing support.
In a statement, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the planes collided and crashed around 1:20 p.m. The FAA is reportedly investigating the deadly crash.
Victoria Yeager, the widow of famed Air Force test pilot Chuck Yeager and herself a pilot, was also at the show.
She didn’t see the collision, but did see the burning wreckage.
“We were just hoping they had all gotten out, but we knew they didn’t,” Yeager said of those on board.
Several videos posted on social media showed the fighter plane appearing to fly into the bomber, causing them to quickly crash to the ground and setting off a large ball of fire and smoke.
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