Seven killed in mid-air plane collision

Three helicopters were used by the team that participated in the rescue while they were trying to reach the crash site in a hilly area.

The Associated Press is reporting the accident happened earlier today near the village of Cerveny Kamen.

Two turbo-prop planes carrying civilian parachutists rehearsing for an air show collided in mid-air in Slovakia on Thursday, killing seven people, authorities said.

Juraj Denes, an official with the Slovak Air and Naval Investigations Bureau, a government agency that investigates plane crashes, said the two L-410 transport planes collided at an altitude of 1,500 meters (4,921 feet). She could not immediately say how many people were on board each of the planes or what types of planes had crashed. Five of them needed minor medical treatment, but none had to be taken to a hospital.

“Soon after takeoff, after the first manoeuvre, the two planes collided due to causes that are not yet known”, said Interior Minister Robert Kalinak.

The TA3 news television said 15 of the parachutists were still missing.

An eyewitness told AP: “All of a sudden, I heard a big blow”.

“The 31 (surviving) parachutists managed to jump out from the falling planes and survived”, he told TA3 at the crash site.