A child on the ground was killed and her family injured after a jet from the Italian acrobatic air team crashed during a practice flight. Video / @matteosalvinimi
An aircraft from Italy’s equivalent of the Red Arrows crashed during an exercise near the northern city of Turin on Saturday, killing a 5-year-old child.
The Frecce Tricolori, the aerobatic wing of the Italian Air Force, was preparing for an airshow when one of its planes broke away from the rest of the team and started to lose height.
Footage shows the pilot eject before the plane nosedives to the ground inside an airfield and skids to a stop, setting off a trail of fire and smoke behind it.
Five-year-old Laura Origliasso died in the crash, pictured with her brother and parents Paolo and Veronica
According to initial reports, parts of the plane struck a car carrying a family near the airport base, setting it on fire.
Paolo Origliasso and Veronica Vernetto managed to get out of the car and rescue their 9-year-old son, but were unable to save their 5-year-old daughter Laura.
The parents and their son were treated for burns after the incident in a Turin hospital. The pilot also reportedly suffered burns.
The debris of a burnt car is seen at left as firefighters seal off the area where a jet crashed during a practice run outside the northern Italian city of Turin. Photo / AP
The father was discharged from hospital on Sunday, but the mother and their son will stay longer because of the severity of their burns and to ensure they did not suffer other physical traumas, doctors said.
“The father has gone through the scene of the incident a thousand times during the night wondering what he could have done differently. It’s terrible,” said Maurizio Bernardino, the head of the intensive care unit at CTO hospital in Turin.
The Frecce Tricolori team was preparing for an air show scheduled for Sunday as part of events marking the 100th anniversary of the Italian Air Force.
They typically perform dramatic fly-bys at events of national importance, leaving streaks of red, green and white smoke to recreate the colours of the Italian flag.
The video of the incident shows nine aircraft in two tight V-formations, before one of the planes drops below the others and crashes.
The pilot, whom authorities identified as Oscar Del Dò, can be seen ejecting.
The Italian Air Force said it was investigating whether the aircraft struck birds before it crashed, while Italian prosecutors said they were also investigating the cause.
In 1988, three aircraft of the Frecce Tricolori collided and crashed to the ground during a show at Ramstein Air Base in Germany attended by around 300,000 people. The three pilots and 67 people on the ground died and hundreds more suffered injuries.
