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A small plane crashed in Missouri, killing all 12 people on board, including the pilot and a group of skydivers.
The cause of the crash has not been determined. According to CNN and Fox News, a Pacific Aerospace P750 aircraft took off from Butler Memorial Airport in Missouri on Sunday morning and went down on a nearby highway while attempting to return to the airport.
All 12 people on board were killed — one pilot and 11 skydivers.
The National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Missouri State Highway Patrol are searching the surrounding area to determine whether any skydivers jumped from the plane before it crashed.
The cause of the crash remains unknown.
The aircraft climbed to 13,400 feet after takeoff before dropping sharply to the ground within two minutes.
The same airport was the site of a skydiving-related crash in 2024, though an emergency evacuation meant no one was killed.
11 killed in small plane crash in Kenya last year
In a separate incident, a small plane crashed in Kwale County near Mombasa in eastern Kenya on Oct. 28 last year, killing 11 people.
The Cessna aircraft had taken off from Diani Airport bound for Maasai Mara National Park when it went down in hilly terrain in Kwale County, about 40 kilometers away, according to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority.
All 11 people on board died, including 10 foreign tourists — eight Hungarians and two Germans — and the Kenyan pilot, the Associated Press reported.
Maasai Mara National Park, the group's intended destination, is a popular safari spot known for the so-called Big Five — lions, elephants, rhinoceroses, buffaloes and leopards — as well as giraffes, cheetahs and hippos.
yul@heraldcorp.com
