Children among ten killed as plane crashes trying to make emergency landing in football field

Three children are among ten people who were killed when a plane crashed into a football field in Mexico.

The private jet came down while trying to make an emergency landing but hit a warehouse on an industrial estate next to the pitch in San Mateo Atenco.

Footage shared on social media reports to show the moment the plane hurtles to the ground before the crash around 30 miles west of Mexico City on Monday. Huge clouds of black smoke were seen billowing out of the crash site as emergency service workers dealt with the carnage.

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”It spun around like when a fan breaks loose,” local resident Octavio Contreras said, per ABC7. “Then we heard the explosion, the truck even moved, and then we saw smoke coming out.”

The jet had registered eight passengers and two crew, Mexico State Civil Protection Coordinator Adrián Hernández confirmed, but hours after the crash only seven bodies had been recovered.

The three children on board were aged two, four and nine years-old according to local media reports in Mexico. The pilot was named as 61-year-old Juan Carlos Olivares Casas and the co-pilot was Walding Sánchez Manzano, 72.

The ages of the other passengers ranged from 31 to 60, and it is believed a number of the victims were from the same family.

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The Cessna Citation III (CE-650) plane had taken off from the Pacific resort of Acapulco about half an hour before the aircraft crashed at 12.30pm. The plane came down about three miles from Toluca Airport, one of the major international airports near Mexico City.

San Mateo Atenco mayor Ana Muñiz told Milenio Television that a fire caused by the crash landing forced the evacuation of some 130 people in the area.

“Two blocks around the premises the plane crashed into had to be evacuated because of the fuel and gas tanks inside,” Minister of Public Security for the State of Mexico Cristobal Castaneda added. “The evacuation was carried out as a precautionary measure.”

Civil Protection Coordinator for the State of Mexico, Adrián Hernández, confirmed no factory workers were present at the time of the accident.

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“Fortunately, no one from the factory was injured, we understand they weren’t working today,” he said.

Flight Radar data shows that the aircraft, labelled the XA-PRO according to Milenio, had flown three, half-hour routes on Friday, 12 December 12. It had also flown two 45-minute routes on Monday, 1 December.

An investigation into what led to the crash is ongoing.