Plane carrying skydivers crashes in Finland, killing 8

USPA News - A small plane carrying a group of skydivers for an Easter Day jump crashed in southwestern Finland on Sunday afternoon, killing eight people in the country`s worst aviation accident in more than three decades, police said. Three others survived by jumping out in time.

The accident occurred at about 3:30 p.m. local time on Sunday when the Comp Air 8 aircraft crashed near Jämijärvi Airfield, an airfield used by small planes in southwestern Finland, about 65 kilometers (40 miles) northeast of Pori. The aircraft was carrying a total of 10 skydivers and one pilot. Finnish police said eight of the passengers were killed while three others - two skydivers and the pilot - were able to leap out of the aircraft before it hit the ground. "The three jumpers have survived and have been hospitalized," a police spokesman said, adding that none of them suffered life-threatening injuries. The cause of the accident was not immediately known, though officials said one or more parts were seen falling from the aircraft before it went down. Sunday`s accident was the worst aviation accident in Finland in more than 35 years. A total of 15 people were killed in October 1978 when a Douglas C-47 transport plane belonging to the Finnish Air Force crashed near Kuopio Airport in southeast Finland. It was preceded by the crash of Aero Flight 311 near the village of Kvevlax in southwest Finland in January 1961, killing all 25 people on board in the country`s worst ever aviation disaster.