9 killed after skydiving plane crashes in Hawaii

All nine people onboard a skydiving airplane in Hawaii were killed when it crashed on Oahu’s North Shore shortly after taking off on Friday evening.

Hawaii’s Department of Transportation said there were no apparent survivors on the King Air twin-engine plane that went down near Dillingham Airfield.

#HDH update: With extreme sadness HDOT reports there were 9 souls on board the King Air twin engine plane that went down near Dillingham Airfield with no apparent survivors.

— Hawaii DOT (@DOTHawaii) June 22, 2019

{mosads}Three of the victims were customers and six were employees of the Oahu Parachute Center taking off for a “sunset tandem” flight, according to Hawaii News Now.

Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell said he was monitoring the developments.

“All this time our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of the victims,” Caldwell wrote on Twitter.

I am closely following the tragic developments out of Dillingham Airfield this evening. At this time our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of the victims.

— Kirk Caldwell (@MayorKirkHNL) June 22, 2019

“It is very difficult.  In my 40 years as a firefighter here in Hawaii, this is the most tragic aircraft incident we’ve had,” Fire Chef Manuel Neves told reporters at the scene.

The local news outlet noted that the crash is one of the deadliest for a civilian airplane in Hawaii’s modern history.

Eleven people planning to parachute into Aloha Stadium were killed in 1981 when the twin-engine Beechcraft they were in crashed into Pearl Harbor.

Nine people were killed when a tour aircraft that took off from Hilo Airport slammed into mountainous terrain at Haleakala in 1992, according to records obtained by the outlet.