Five dead as people smuggler spy plane crashes on take-off
THIS is the moment five people on a surveillance mission died when their plane crashed in a fireball yesterday.
Three French customs officers had just taken off to search for people smugglers and drug traffickers in the Mediterranean when their chartered plane fell out of the sky.
The 19-seat, twin-propeller plane rose for a few seconds then lost power, banking sharply and plunging into the perimeter road at Malta International Airport. Witnesses said there was no explosion before the Fairchild Metroliner, which was heading for the Libyan coast, hit the ground.
The French officials and the plane’s two crew members died. No one else was hurt in the crash, which happened at 7.20am.
Maltese prime minister Joseph Muscat told parliament last night that human error or a mechanical fault was the most likely cause. ‘There is no indication of foul play,’ he said. Witness Edward De Gaetano, who was sitting on his flight to London, said: ‘We were about to take off. Moments before we did, we saw a massive explosion – we had no idea what caused it.
‘Then there was a second explosion and I thought, “Oh my God, this isn’t just a fire”.’
He told the BBC: ‘It’s pretty scary, a lot of commotion in the plane.’
Malta Airport was closed for four hours, causing dozens of flight delays and cancellations. The plane was registered to CAE Aviation in Luxembourg, which offers surveillance services to defence and security agencies. The plane’s crew worked for CAE.
A Maltese government spokesman said it was taking part in a five-month anti-trafficking operation set up by France.
He added: ‘It has the aim of tracing routes of illicit trafficking of all sorts, including human and drug trafficking.’