People in Southend, Essex, have recalled the horrifying moment a plane crashed at the airport, with one family detailing how they’d watched the plane make a series of “violent” turns before the subsequent “fireball.”
The awful ordeal happened on Sunday when a 40-foot-long Beech B200 aircraft, believed to be carrying medical equipment, crashed inside the bounds of Southend Airport. Though it was heading to the Netherlands, it only reached a height of 175ft before crashing to the ground.
A spokesperson for Southend Airport said: “Due to a serious incident today at London Southend Airport, we regret to advise that the airport is closed until further notice. All flights to and from the airport have been cancelled while police, emergency services and air accident investigators are attending the incident.”
Essex Police’s Chief Superintendent Morgan Cronin said the investigation is still in its “very early stages” but more information is expected to follow. Though some witnesses have recalled seeing four people inside the aircraft, official statements on the deceased have not yet been released.
A plane-spotting dad and daughter witnessed the explosion
Alongside his 15-month-old daughter and wife, 34-year-old Ben Guppy from Benfleet, Essex, witnessed the entire ordeal as they watched planes take off from the nearby Holiday Inn.
“I just looked around like ‘Am I dreaming?’. I turned to my wife Jess, who had her hands over her face,” he told the MailOnline. “She was pretty much in tears. She’s still pretty upset about it all.”
He recalled how the plane reached “50 metres off the runway” before it made a series of violent turns and “corkscrewed upside down into the floor.”
The dad explained: “My daughter was pointing at it and then it listed to the left. The left wing came down, the ring wing came up, I thought “He’s keen to go left as soon as he takes off.
“He’s banking hard left and then the next thing you know, it’s like another handbrake turn. He went left so violently and I thought ‘What is he doing?’ He was only about 100 metres up by this point. And then he corkscrewed upside down into the floor, the plane was only in the air for seconds. I looked at it and the fireball went up, there was fire and smoke everywhere. Luckily my daughter was facing the other way.”
People at the nearby rugby club saw the ‘fireball’
Crazy footage from the golf course, on which the plane taking off from Southend London airport appeared to crash.pic.twitter.com/d79o8xff8O
— Phil (@phil_from_NG) July 13, 2025
Young girls from Leigh Lionesses FC were celebrating their annual presentation ceremony at the Westcliff Rugby Club when they witnessed the “fireball”
“The plane came down behind a line of trees, but a lot of people saw the huge fireball and then the black smoke,” one mum, whose daughter plays for the club, told the publication. “It looks like the pilot took off, and then had a problem, and came back on himself to try and land back at the airport. But the plane came down behind a line of trees.”
The bartender at the club recalled feeling a “big heat wave” before looking up to see a “massive fireball” in the sky.
People have their flights cancelled
Small passenger plane crashes at #London Southend Airport. Massive fireball caught on Camera
A Beech B200 Super King Air crashed shortly after take-off triggering a massive fireball. The plane was headed to Lelystad in the Netherlands
Emergency services on the scene… pic.twitter.com/qp0mNcTMdH
— Nabila Jamal (@nabilajamal_) July 13, 2025
Flights to and from Southend Airport were cancelled following the crash, with Aideen Cowling and her family forced to watch the ensuing explosion when arriving at the car park.
She said: “We had just parked in the car park, and had got out when I heard what sounded like seagulls squawking. I looked up and I saw this massive orange fireball. I called out to Blair and by the time he looked round, it was just black smoke. It didn’t sink in that a plane had crashed, and we just carried on into the terminal.”
After their bags were sent out onto the runway, Aideen and her husband, Blair, were told their flight was cancelled.
“We had to book a new flight. I tried Gatwick and Stansted, but they were fully booked, and eventually we got places on a BA flight out from Heathrow on Monday morning, so we are having to get there and stay in a hotel,” he added.
One family ‘waved at the pilots’ before the crash
John Johnson and his family were also at the airport before the devastating crash, telling the MailOnline that they’d waved to the pilots just before takeoff.
“We all waved at the pilots, and they all waved back at us. About three or four seconds after taking off, it started to bank heavily to its left, and then within a few seconds of that happening, it more or less inverted and crashed,” he said.
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