On Saturday, 9 May, at 1pm local time, an Airbus A400M military transport plane, crashed near Seville airport, southern Spain, while carrying out its first test flight and having taken off fifteen minutes earlier. The aircraft was to be delivered to Turkey in June.
Airbus Defence and Space confirmed the accident in a press release, and said that a team was on the scene of the accident. Of the six Spanish nationality crew members, four died. In a second statement issued by Airbus Defence and Space it was stated that the other two had been hospitalized in a serious condition.
The circumstances of the accident are not yet known.
On hearing the news, Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, expressed his sincere rerets and immediately left an electoral meeting in Tenerife in the Canary Islands.
Britain, Germany, Turkey and Malaysia have decided to temporarily ground their fleet A400M’s. France has not yet taken any action. Both black boxes have been found and will be analyzed as soon as possible to determine the causes of the accident.
This amateur video was taken by a Web user.