The army announced in a press release that two small planes collided Sunday afternoon while participating in an air show as part of a six-plane patrol at Beja Airport in southern Portugal.
“The Air Force regrets to announce that at 4:05 p.m., during the Baja Air Show, two aircraft were involved in an accident during an air show,” notes this press release, which did not specify whether the accident caused any injuries.
Portuguese media reported that the pilot of one of the two planes died. It is believed that the two planes that collided were Yakovlev Yak-52, a model of training and air aerobatic aircraft.
The army confirmed that “emergency services are currently at the site,” explaining that the organizers had suspended the air show.
In a video clip taken by a viewer and posted on social media, we see a group of six planes performing an air show. Then one of them rises and appears to hit one of the other five devices before hitting the ground.
According to witnesses to the accident reported by the Portuguese press, the six planes were part of an acrobatic patrol called “Yak Stars,” which the air show organizers presented as “the largest civilian aerobatics team in southern Europe.”
