Southend-on-Sea, UK - A small plane crashed at a London regional airport, the police and Southend London airport announced Sunday, forcing its closure.

Video footage showed the aircraft in flames with a plume of black smoke at Southend-on-Sea, while witnesses described seeing a "fireball."

"We are working with all emergency services at the scene now and that work will be ongoing for several hours," said a statement from Essex police, describing it as a "serious incident".

Police said they had been alerted a little before 4:00 PM local time. They evacuated a nearby golf club and rugby club as a precaution, they added.

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A statement from London Southend Airport confirmed there had been "a serious incident" Sunday afternoon.

"We are working closely with the local authorities and will be able to provide more information as soon as possible," it added.

Later Sunday, it announced the airport's closure "until further notice".

"All flights to and from the airport have been cancelled while police, emergency services and air accident investigators are attending the incident," it added.

A witness who was at the airport told the PA news agency that he and his children had "all waved at the pilots, and they all waved back at us."

"The aircraft then turned 180 degrees to face its take-off, departure, powered up, rolled down the runway," he said. "It took off and about three or four seconds after taking off, it started to bank heavily to its left, and then within a few seconds of that happening, it more or less inverted and crashed just head first into the ground."

The witness added: "There was a big fireball"

In a post on X, British transport minister Heidi Alexander said she was aware of the "tragic incident" and was following developments closely.

Southend-on-Sea is about 40 miles east of London and is the sixth-largest airport in the capital area.