June 14 (Reuters) - Eleven skydivers and a pilot died in the crash of a private plane on Sunday in Butler, Missouri, aircraft operator Skydive Kansas City said.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol said the crash occurred near the Butler Memorial Airport, about 60 miles (100 km) south of Kansas City, Missouri.
"Tragically, all 12 individuals aboard lost their lives in the accident," the skydiving company said.
The names of those involved will not be released until all next of kin have been notified, the company said. It added that it was working closely with local authorities, the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.
Dennis Jacobs, the acting airport manager and Bates County emergency management director, told Reuters that the single-engine turboprop airplane took off around 11:20 a.m. CT (1620 GMT) but failed to gain altitude before making a sharp left turn and crashing some 300 yards (274 m) from the runway.
The NTSB identified the aircraft as a Pacific Aerospace 750XL.
"This is not a commercial airliner that has crashed; it's a local airplane that took off from our local airport," Bates County Sheriff Chad Anderson said. "This appears to be an accident," he said at a press conference.
Family members of the victims witnessed the crash, Anderson said, adding that FAA officials had arrived at the scene.
The NTSB said in a statement that investigators were expected to arrive on the scene on Monday and a final report on the probable cause of the crash was expected in 12 to 24 months.
Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe said on Facebook that several state agencies were responding, including with grief counselors to support surviving family members.
"Our prayers are with the community and all those working to help," he said.
According to the non-profit U.S. Parachute Association, last year there were 16 fatalities in the U.S. related to skydiving out of an estimated 3.5 million jumps. Not including the Missouri crash, eight fatal aircraft accidents involving skydiving have occurred in the U.S. over the past decade, resulting in a total of 25 deaths, the group said.
Skydive Kansas City said on its website it was founded in 1998 and the business was acquired in 2024 by Little Engine Ventures, a private equity firm based in Lafayette, Indiana, that also operates skydiving businesses in Indianapolis and Beloit, Wisconsin.
(Reporting by Gnaneshwar Rajan in Bengaluru and Julie Ingwersen and Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago; Writing by Christian Martinez; Editing by Sergio Non, Chizu Nomiyama and Jamie Freed)
