Birmingham Airport closed
We can confirm that an incident has occurred at Birmingham Airport involving a private Cessna aircraft. The incident occurred on arrival into the Airport and the emergency services were in attendance.
There were two people on board, both males. One male is critical and was airlifted to a local hospital. The second male is suffering back pain and flash burns and has been transferred to a local hospital by road.
The airport is currently closed and is not likely to reopen before at least 20:00 this evening.
Those due to travel to the airport this evening should contact their airline for further guidance and not come to the airport at this time.
Crash victim critical after plane explodes in 'ball of flames' at Birmingham Airport
A light aircraft was seen bursting into flames as it crashed in heavy fog injuring two people and bringing Birmingham International Airport to a standstill.
An eyewitness described the jet crashing into the ground sparking fires and exploding just minutes after two people on board ran clear.
Five passenger in-bound flights have been diverted and all departures cancelled after the crash this afternoon at 3.35pm.
West Midlands police said two people have miraculously survived the crash but there was no word on whether anyone else was injured so far.
Birmingham International Airport said the private Cessna jet came down on arrival and it is understood one injured passenger is in a critical condition.
An airport worker, who gave his name only as Alan, told local radio: 'It appeared in a gap between the trees and I just happened to be standing in the gap.
'There was a horrible noise and it burst into flames with a trail of flames behind it.
'My guess is that some part of the wheels had hit the run way then some other part of it hit the outside.
'When I ran over to the plane all I could see was the tail and the rest was in flames.
'I ran towards it but then I realised it could have exploded. It wasn't on fire in the air just as it hit the ground.
'I saw two people trying to get out of the plane running away.
There was a huge ball of flames when it exploded. The engine was still running so it could have been even worse.'
Eyewitness Lorraine Parker, was sitting waiting to get off her flight which had landed at Birmingham since being diverted there also because of fog.
She said: 'I am sitting on the plane waiting to get off so we are just waiting.
'We saw lots of smoke when we landed with two fire engines rushing across so we have been told the airport is closed.
'It's a small light aircraft that's all we know. It was on the edge of the runway.
'It crashed on the approach that's what we were told. It's very foggy here.
'We were supposed to land two hours ago but were diverted to Birmingham - we have no idea when we can get off the plane we have been sat here for an hour and a half.
'I presume it's still being dealt with that's what we're being told.'
Birmingham International Airport is one of Britain's biggest terminals outside London handling hundreds of flights from across Europe and wider afield.
The accident is expected to bring all flights to a standstill and Birmingham International Airport has told passengers to contact their flight operators and not come to the airport.
Fri Nov 19, 2010 6:05 pm
