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The death toll after a vintage fighter jet plowed into a busy road in southern England while performing an acrobatics display could approach 20, police said on Monday, as Britain began reviewing its safety procedures at air shows.
The Hawker Hunter plane, of a type developed by Britain in the 1950s, struck several cars on Saturday on the A27 highway — a major road next to Shoreham Airport, where the show was taking place, near Brighton. The highway is expected to remain closed for days.
The crash was the third — and by far the deadliest — at the event since 2007. Police said on Sunday they feared 11 people were killed, but a senior officer said that figure was likely to rise as police gained access to more areas of the accident scene.
“It’s too early to tell, but I’d be surprised if [the death toll] doesn’t go above 11,” Sussex Police Assistant Chief Constable Steve Barry was quoted as telling the BBC. “If it would be below 20, then that would be probably the best estimate that I could give you at this stage.”
In 2007 a pilot was killed at Shoreham after his World War II Hurricane aircraft crashed just north of the same road, and three years later a stunt glider pilot survived a crash there.
The Royal Air Forces Association, which helps organize the show, said on Monday that the team running the event had many years’ experience nationally and needed to meet tough safety standards set by Britain’s air transport regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority.
Amateur video footage of Saturday’s crash showed two big explosions and black plumes of smoke after the jet hit the ground.
Police said the large number of attendees as well motorists and cyclists on the road made it difficult to confirm the identities of the victims. Two footballers from nearby amateur team Worthing United were among those killed, the club said.
The road, a major artery for traffic along the south coast, remained closed on Monday. Barry said the wreckage of the aircraft was due to be moved later in the day.
The Civil Aviation Authority said that although Britain’s safety standards were among the most stringent in the world, a review would look at whether improvements could be made. “We ... remain committed to continuously enhancing the safety of all civil aviation,” a spokesman said.
Several crashes occurred during other air displays in Britain in recent years, with the latest three weeks ago, when a stunt plane crashed at a car festival in Cheshire in northwestern England, killing the pilot.
Britain’s deadliest air show accident was in 1952, when the engine of a supersonic de Havilland 110 plane fell into a crowd at the Farnborough Air Show in southern England, killing 29 people on the ground and two on the plane.
Wire services
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