Updated on: June 15, 2026 / 1:16 PM EDT
/ CBS/AP
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Twelve people aboard a skydiving plane, including the pilot, were killed when the aircraft crashed in Missouri, according to authorities.The Missouri State Highway Patrol said on social media that the fatal crash occurred near the Butler Memorial Airport, located about 60 miles south of Kansas City. State troopers were on the scene along with the Butler Police Department and Bates County Sheriff's Office.Missouri Highway Patrol Sgt. Justin Ewing said the plane was taking people up to skydive when it crashed into a field adjacent to the airport. Emergency responders got a call that a plane was down and engulfed in fire around 11:30 a.m. Sunday, he said. The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed the aircraft was a Pacific Aerospace P750. The plane is a single-engine turboprop model that's popular for skydiving but has also proven useful for other uses, including cargo, aerial surveying and medical evacuation flights. The agency said air traffic services "were not being provided at the time" of the crash. "It was completely perpendicular with the wings to the sky, to the ground, going fast. And then they just hit the ground," Bailey Reed, an eyewitness to the crash, told CBS News. "The plane just completely like shattered with the ground," she said. "The ground and trees around it exploded and it just lit up in flames."
