Near Paris Three dead in sports plane crash on highway

After take-off, a sports plane strikes a power line near Paris and crashes onto the A4 highway. It's a scary moment for drivers, but the three occupants of the plane don't stand a chance.

Three passengers were killed when a sports plane crashed onto a highway near Paris. The plane struck a high-voltage power line shortly after take-off from Lognes-Emerainville airfield and then crashed into the central reservation of the Paris-Metz highway 4 near Collégien, according to the public prosecutor's office in Meaux.

No vehicles on the freeway were involved in the accident, which occurred around ten kilometers from Disneyland Paris. The highway was closed. The fatalities were two men and a woman. According to the public prosecutor's office, the pilot had held a pilot's license since last year and had flown just over 100 hours. The aviation police and France's Air Accident Investigation Bureau began an investigation.

Photos and video footage showed the small Cessna 172 aircraft lying upside down between the concrete lane dividers in the middle of the highway. Burning pieces of wreckage had been thrown onto the carriageway and a rescue helicopter landed at the scene of the accident. Fire and rescue services were deployed on the highway.

dpa