Three people have died in a mid-air collision between two light aircraft near St. Petersburg, Russian media reported Friday. One of the planes landed safely with its pilot unharmed.
Interfax, citing Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry, said the crash occurred at an airfield that hosts regular competition aerobatics events next to the Leningrad region village of Gostilitsy.
Out of the five people on board the two planes, one pilot and two adults reportedly died at the scene. A child accompanying them has survived, according to Interfax.
Law enforcement authorities told state media that a Piper light aircraft crashed as a result of a mid-air collision with a Cessna two minutes after lift-off from the Gostilitsy airfield.
“The light-engine Cessna plane landed with minor damage, the pilot was not injured,” the TASS news agency quoted an unnamed transport prosecutor’s office official as saying.
An emergency source cited by TASS said the other aircraft has been “pulverized.”
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