Nine skydivers, pilot killed in Michigan plane crash

DETROIT, AUG 1: A pilot and his nine passengers planning to spend the day skydiving were killed on Saturday when their plane smashed into a field in Michigan, police said.

The twin-engine Beech King Air 200 crashed shortly after its take-off, around 8.20 am, Marine City Airport in Cottrellville Township, about 40 miles north of Detroit, a police spokesman told AFP. The cause of the crash was not known, he said.

State police spokesman Sergeant John Hanson said that shortly after take-off, the plane “banked hard to the left and crashed. The pilot and all nine passengers were deceased at the scene”. Several family members were watching, anticipating the skydiving event, when the crash occurred.