An Airbus A400M military plane crashed into a field 1.6 km north of San Pablo airport in Seville in southern Spain on Saturday, officials said.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said between eight and 10 people were on board, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported. The prime minister’s office could not confirm the comments, France24 wrote.
“The plane that crashed north of Seville airport in a non-residential area was not a commercial craft,” said a spokesman for the regional emergency services. Media images showed fire-fighters spraying smoking wreckage in a ploughed field.
An Airbus spokesman confirmed that an A400M transport plane had crashed in Seville and that the plane was one due for delivery to the Turkish air force. Airbus has dispatched technical experts to the scene, he said. Spanish state broadcaster TVE said two crew members had been sent to a local hospital with very serious injuries.
The transport plane was not being flown by the Spanish military, the defense ministry said. According to El Pais, the A400M had not yet been delivered to the Spanish military and was undergoing trials. Airbus has struggled with development and production of the four-engine turbo-propeller plane. The program has run over cost and behind schedule.
The crash comes during another difficult period for the program. Airbus in January replaced the head of the military aircraft unit because of sustained technical and production problems on the aircraft. The company’s 2014 full-year results included a $618 million charge on renewed problems in building the plane that previously weighed on results. Airbus has sold 174 of the military cargo planes, with orders from eight countries. The first was delivered to the French air force in 2013. Turkey, the UK and Germany are among the countries to have received A400M cargo planes.
