A military plane with at least eight people on board crashed Saturday about a mile north of Seville’s airport in southern Spain, Spain’s aviation authority said.
The downed plane is owned by Airbus and was on a test flight, the aviation authority said.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy confirmed via Twitter that those aboard the plane were Spanish citizens and Airbus employees, and expressed his condolences, though authorities have not yet confirmed the fate of those aboard the aircraft.
Rajoy’s governing Popular Party tweeted that it was thought to be a fatal incident and involved an Airbus A400M.
Emergency services are at the crash scene, the aviation authority said, where a fire has sent up a column of smoke visible from various points in the Andalusian city.
The Seville government’s official Twitter page said work to extinguish the fire was under way.
The crash has led to power outages in some areas, the Seville government said.
The incident has disrupted travel to and from Seville airport Saturday afternoon, with some flights canceled and others diverted or delayed.
Rajoy’s party said he had canceled a planned meeting on the Spanish island of Tenerife following news of the crash.
