A private plane carrying skydivers crashed in the US state of Missouri on Sunday, killing all 12 people on board, authorities said.

The crash occurred near Butler Memorial Airport, about 60 miles (100km) south of Kansas City, shortly after the plane took off. The aircraft was operated by Skydive Kansas City.

“Tragically, all 12 individuals aboard lost their lives in the accident,” the skydiving company said in a statement. The pilot was among those killed.

What do we know?

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) identified the aircraft as a single-engine Pacific Aerospace P750.

Dennis Jacobs, the acting airport manager and Bates County emergency management director, told Reuters that the plane took off at around 11:20am CT (1620 UTC).

It did not appear to gain altitude and was seen making a sharp left turn before it came down about 300 yards (274 metres) from the runway, near a highway, Jacobs said.

First responders searched the flight path to find anyone who might have tried to jump from the plane as it began to nosedive but found no evidence of that, Jacobs added.

Investigation underway

The cause of the crash was not immediately known.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which is leading the investigation, said investigators were expected to arrive at the scene on Monday.

A final report on the cause of the crash is expected to be published in 12 to 24 months, news agencies cited the NTSB as saying.

“For all intents and purposes, (this) appears to be an accident,” Bates County Sheriff Chad Anderson said at a news conference.

Some of the victims’ family members witnessed the crash, Anderson said.

Images from the crash site showed blue and silver wreckage strewn across the grass as multiple emergency vehicles responded to the scene.

DW