Seven people have died in a mid-air collision in Slovakia between two planes carrying parachutists.
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The crash happened in the west of the country near the village of Cerveny Kamen.
Three helicopters were being used to reach the crash site, which was located in a fairly remote, hilly area near the border with the Czech Republic, according to a spokesperson for the rescue team. He said the passengers on board were parachutists.
Peter Bubla, spokesman for the Health Ministry said 38 were on board the two planes and 31 survived. Five people needed some medical treatment but nobody was hospitalized, he said. Individuals onboard were members of the Slovak National Aero Club Jan Mikus, and the pilots were practicing for a parachute show to be held Sunday in Slovakia’s Slavnica.
Parachutists from one of the planes survived because they had managed to jump out of the plane before the collision, Denes said.
“All of a sudden, I heard a big blow”, one witness told TASR, the Slovak news agency.
The first images from the crash site, broadcast on Slovak news channel TV Markiza, showed the burnt-out wreckage of one of two L-410 twin-engine planes involved in the accident.
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TA3 reported that 15 of the parachutists were still missing.
