Airplane Crashes At London Airport – “Big Fireball”

A small airplane crashed shortly after takeoff at London Southend Airport in Sussex, England.

“We remain on the scene of a serious incident at Southend Airport. We were alerted shortly before 4pm to reports of a collision involving one 12-metre plane. We are working with all emergency services at the scene now and that work will be ongoing for several hours. We would please ask the public to avoid this area where possible while this work continues,” Essex Police – Southend District wrote on Facebook.

According to The Independent, a Beechcraft King Air B200 was departing the airport for Lelystad in the Netherlands after arriving from Croatia earlier in the day.

One witness at the airport said he saw a “big fireball” after the plane crashed.

Footage below:

JUST IN – Moments after takeoff Super King Airplane crashes at London Southend Airport.https://t.co/lWGI1Nmx0n

— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) July 13, 2025

More from The Independent:

Labour MP for Southend West, David Burton-Sampson, wrote on X: “I am aware of an incident at Southend Airport. Please keep away and allow the emergency services to do their work. My thoughts are with everyone involved.”

EasyJet is among the airlines to use London South Airport as a base. The airline cancelled its four evening flights to Paris, Alicante, Faro and Palma de Mallorca.

EasyJet uses Southend Airport for approximately 20 routes.

The airport is about 36 miles from the center of London.

“As the airport is currently closed, all remaining flights to and from London Southend today have been diverted to alternative airports or are no longer able to operate,” an easyJet spokesperson said, according to The Independent.

“We are doing all we can to support our customers and have contacted them directly with options to rebook or receive a refund, and are arranging hotel accommodation and meals for those who require them,” the spokesperson added.

Footage from the airport captured the massive fireball:

BREAKING: Plane crashes at London Southend Airport, massive fireball spotted pic.twitter.com/dWNIJSwXV8

— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) July 13, 2025

BBC described other witness accounts:

James Philpott, a bartender at the Rochford Hundred Golf Club, had been in a hut in the middle of the course when he felt “a big heatwave”.

“I looked up and there was a massive fireball, basically,” he said.

“Everyone was just quite shocked… we haven’t seen anything like this.

“People were sort of running towards it to see if anyone was injured.”

People were evacuated from the course due to its close proximity with the crash, but Mr Philpott said some people remained in the clubhouse as it was further away.

The chairman of Westcliff Rugby Club, which is near Southend Airport, said people at their club did not end up having to evacuate following the plane crash.

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Pete Jones said: “That didn’t happen in the end [police] changed their mind.

“We’ve got a big event there, 250 people, and they just said no, you don’t have to evacuate.”

Mr Jones said the aircraft went down about 1,000m from the clubhouse and that people there could see smoke in the aftermath.

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