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Deadly mid-air collision over Slovakia

August 20, 2015

Skydivers rehearsing for an air show were among the dead after two planes collide in mid-air. Officials say rescue mission underway.

https://p.dw.com/p/1GII1
Slowakei Kollision von zwei Sportflugzeugen
Image: Reuters/R. Stoklasa

Seven people were killed after two air planes carrying parachutists collided around 8:30 a.m. (6:30 UTC) Thursday near the town of Ilava, rescue officials said.

Crash investigator Juraj Denes told the AP news agency that around 40 people were on board two twin-engine L-410 airplanes at the time of the collision, which occurred at an altitude of 1,500 meters (4,921 feet).

Parachutists from one of the planes survived because they had managed to jump out of the plane before the collision, Denes said.

Andrej Hirjak, a spokesman for the rescue effort, says three helicopters are being used by rescue workers to reach the crash site, which was in a hilly area near the border with the Czech Republic, about 150 kilometers (93 miles) from the capital Bratislava.

jar/jil (AP, Reuters)