- A plane crashed in a "fireball" shortly after taking off from Southend Airport on Sunday afternoon, witnessed by horrified onlookers.
- Essex Police were alerted just before 4pm to the collision involving a 12-metre plane, with emergency services remaining on the scene of the serious incident.
- Witnesses described seeing the aircraft bank heavily to its left, invert, and crash head first into the ground, causing a large fireball.
- As a precaution, Rochford Hundred Golf Club, located near the airport, was evacuated, with a bartender describing feeling a "big heat wave" and seeing a "massive fireball".
- Emergency services, including fire, ambulance, and police, attended the scene, and four flights scheduled from Southend Airport were cancelled following the incident.
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