Light plane crashes next to Dutch highway near Middelburg; One killed
A light plane, a Cessna 172, crashed next to the A58 highway between Ritthem and Middelburg on Tuesday morning, the local security region, Zeeland Veilig, reported. One person died in the crash.
Emergency services received the first report of the crash at 8:41 a.m., deploying police, paramedics, and the fire brigade to the scene. Two trauma teams also responded in helicopters.
The security region quickly escalated the situation to a GRIP 1, in which all emergency services at the scene report to a single commanding officer.
“The police confirm that, sadly, one person died in the crash of the light aircraft,” said regional emergency services center Zeeland Veilig. It was not immediately clear how many people were inside the airplane when it crashed into a meadow alongside the A58 motorway.
The aircraft did not catch on fire. The A58 remained open during rush hour, even as the airplane was lying in the adjacent field.
Photos show that the plane was destroyed in the crash. Emergency services were seen holding a white sheet to cover one of the pieces of wreckage, according to RTL Nieuws.
