A military plane participating in an air show near Turin crashed and hit the car in which the entire family was traveling. A five-year-old girl died. Her nine-year-old brother is seriously injured. The children’s parents and the plane’s pilot survived.
The accident, according to the Italian agency ANSA, occurred just after take-off from Turin-Caselle airport. The recordings appearing on social media show one of the planes starting to descend and hitting the ground right after its pilot ejected from the plane.
The machine hit the car in which the entire family was traveling and caught fire. There was an explosion. A 5-year-old girl died as a result of the accident. The Italian news agency AGI reported that her nine-year-old brother was seriously injured and that the lives of the parents and the pilot were not in danger. However, the parents were taken to hospital.
The show with the participation of the plane was to be the culmination of the celebration organized to celebrate the centenary of the Italian Air Force. After the disaster, the decision was made to cancel the event.
The plane that fell belonged to the Frecce Tricolori – a representative acrobatic formation of the Italian army.
Minister of Defense Italian Guido Crosetto expressed his condolences to the victims’ family on behalf of the entire ministry.
Among the hypotheses regarding the causes of the accident, as ANSA writes, there is the involvement of birds, which could have led to the disaster through contact with the machine. The second one says that there may have been an engine failure.
“A terrifying tragedy”
The Italian Deputy Prime Minister commented on the disaster on social media Matteo Salvini, posting a video showing the moment of the accident. “A terrible accident in Turin, where a Frecce Tricolori plane crashed during training, resulting in the death of a 5-year-old girl and, according to preliminary reports, her younger brother and parents were injured. The pilot jumped out with a parachute at the last moment. A terrifying tragedy. A prayer and a hug touching closeness,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Terribile incidente a Torino, dove un aereo delle Frecce Tricolori è precipitato durante una esercitazione, uccidendo una bimba di 5 anni e, secondo le prime notizie, ferendo il suo fratellino ei suoi genitori. Salvo il pilota, che si è lanciato all’ultimo con il paracadute.… pic.twitter.com/AlW6TWqxTo
— Matteo Salvini (@matteosalvinimi) September 16, 2023
Main photo source: Frecce Tricolori/X (formerly Twitter)