Horrific moment Italian 'Red Arrow' crashes into ground killing girl, 5, and leaving family with burns
17 September 2023, 13:28 | Updated: 17 September 2023, 13:40
A five-year-old girl has been killed after a plane from Italy's version of the Red Arrows crashed into the ground and exploded.
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Footage shows an MB-339 fighter break out of formation and fly low to the ground before the pilot ejects.
Seconds later, it crashes into the ground in a massive fireball.
Reports say it hit a car containing a family, killing a five-year-old girl and her brother, aged nine, and her parents with burns.
She was named as Laura Origliasso by Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni.
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The pilot, who ejected very low to the ground, but has also suffered burns.
The plane was part of the Frecce Tricolori team, the Italian aerobatic unit that is equivalent to the Red Arrows.
CASELLE - CADUTA FRECCIA TRICOLORE IN DECOLLO
They were flying over Turin Caselle airport. It is understood they were practicing for a show on Sunday that marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Italian Air Force.
The clip shows how two groups of jets were flying in a wedge formations on Saturday before one on the far left of the team starts to slow down and then fall away.
It flies incredibly low the ground, with the pilot ejecting just several feet above the grass. He is seen being propelled into the air before a parachute deploys as the explosions erupts below him.
Investigators are looking into whether the plane was hit by a bird strike.
Images of the aftermath show a wrecked plane in a field and a car that had rolled onto its side by the road.
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Meloni said: "I am shocked by what happened today in the Caselle flying club in Turin during an exercise by the Frecce Tricolori.
"The death of little Laura Origliasso, following the terrible crash of one of the aircraft of the National Aerobatic Team, saddens me deeply and leaves me speechless.
"On behalf of myself and the entire government, I express my closeness and condolences to the family of the deceased girl and I extend my best wishes for a speedy recovery to her parents and little brother who were injured in this tragedy."
