영국 남부에서 22일(현지시간) 에어쇼를 펼치 던 비행기가 간선도로에 추락하면서 차량과 충돌해 7명이 사망하는 사고가 발생했다 .
웨스트서식스 경찰은 이 사고로 7명이 숨졌고 1명이 중상을 입었다고 밝혔다고 BBC 등이 전했다.
'동남해안 구조 서비스'는 사망자 모두 현장에서 숨졌으며 중상을 입은 다른 1 명은 병원으로 옮겨졌다고 밝혔다.
이들 이외 14명이 현장에서 가벼운 치료를 받았다고 구조 서비스는 덧붙였다.
사상자는 모두 간선도로의 차량에 있던 사람들로 추정된다. 에어쇼 관람객들은 다치지 않은 것으로 전해졌다.
목격자들에 따르면 웨스트서식스에서 열린 쇼어햄 에어쇼에 참여한 1인승 전투 기(호커 헌터 T.7)가 곡예비행을 시도하다가 인근 간선도로에 추락했다.
목격자 스테픈 존스는 "곡예비행을 시도하던 '호커 헌터 T.7' 비행기가 너무 낮 게 비행하다가 간선도로쯤에 떨어졌다"고 전했다.
당시 간선도로를 달리던 에일리시 사우쏠은 "큰 화재가 일어났는데 우리 차앞에 서 15미터 정도 떨어진 곳이어서 차에서 내려 도망쳤다"고 했다.
다른 목격자는 트위터에 "충돌 소리가 들렸고 화염이 일어난 뒤 짙은 연기가 솟 아올랐다"고 전했다.
경찰은 아직 사고경위 등 자세한 내용을 발표하지 않고 있다. (연합)
<관련 영문 기사>
Police say 7 dead after jet in UK airshow crashes into road
A military jet taking part in a British airshow crashed into a busy main road Saturday, killing seven people and injuring more than a dozen others, police said.
The Hawker Hunter fighter jet, which was participating in the Shoreham Airshow near Brighton in southern England, hit several vehicles on a nearby road as it crashed Saturday afternoon. Witnesses told local TV that the jet appeared to have crashed when it failed to pull out of a loop maneuver.
West Sussex Police said seven people died at the scene and one patient with life-threatening injuries was taken to the hospital. Another 14 people were treated for minor injuries.
News video and photographs showed a fireball erupting near trees and huge plumes of thick black smoke rising. A witness, Stephen Jones, told the BBC that the pilot had just begun his display.
“He’d gone up into a loop and as he was coming out of the loop I just thought, you’re too low, you’re too low, pull up. And he flew straight into the ground either on or very close to the A27, which runs past the airport,” Jones said.
The force said all the deaths were believed to have occurred on the road, and no one on the airfield was believed injured. It was not known whether the pilot was able to eject.
The road was closed in both directions Saturday.
Crashes at British airshows are rare, but in 2007 the pilot of a World War II Hurricane died at the Shoreham Airshow after performing an unplanned barrel-roll.
“We mustn’t rush to knee jerk reactions about the safety of airshows,” said Tim Loughton, a member of Britain’s parliament who represents Shoreham. “This is an airshow that’s been going for 26 years, only the second time there’s been any serious accident, and the first time that spectators and people on the ground have been affected, bad though that is.” (AP)
