Pilots ‘waved to children’ before aircraft ‘crashed head first’ into ground at Southend Airport

The pilots of a plane that crashed in a “fireball” waved at children shortly before the collision, a witness has said.

Essex Police said they were alerted shortly before 4pm on Sunday to “reports of a collision involving one 12-metre plane” at Southend Airport and that they remain on the scene of the “serious incident”.