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Five French customs officers killed in plane crash at Malta airport

The plane crashed shortly after take-off from Malta International Airport, killing five people. Picture by Ed De Gaetano/Twitter
The plane crashed shortly after take-off from Malta International Airport, killing five people. Picture by Ed De Gaetano/Twitter The plane crashed shortly after take-off from Malta International Airport, killing five people. Picture by Ed De Gaetano/Twitter

FIVE French customs officers were killed when a plane heading towards Libya to monitor migrant trafficking routes crashed shortly after take-off at Malta's main airport.

The US-registered light aircraft, on lease to a company in Luxembourg, was seen banking sharply before plummeting to the ground and exploding in a huge fireball at around 7.20am local time on Monday.

Malta's government said the five men were part of a French customs surveillance operation tracing routes of human and drug trafficking.

The plane, a twin-propeller Fairchild Metroliner Mark III, had been heading for Misrata in north-west Libya.

A government spokesman said witnesses had confirmed there was no explosion prior to impact.

Actor Edward De Gaetano was returning to London when he witnessed the aftermath of the crash.

He told the Press Association: "We were about to take off; moments before we did from our windows we could see a massive explosion - at first we had no idea what caused it."

He added: "Then there was a second explosion and I thought 'Oh my God, this is not just a fire'. We are all a bit stunned."

Mr De Gaetano said it was "definitely not a military plane" which had crashed - with flames from the explosion "engulfing" a nearby tree.

Before the crash he said everything seemed "very, very normal".

The airport was closed for four hours while debris was cleared, causing dozens of flights to be delayed and cancelled and officials warned it would take "some time" for the schedule to return to normal.

A spokesman for the airport at Luqa said: "We can confirm that the five crew on board the aircraft are deceased. Our thoughts are with families of people involved in this accident.

"An investigation is currently ongoing and we are working with all the authorities to provide them with any assistance necessary."

The five victims were three French defence ministry officials and two private contractors.

Libya is the main point of departure for the tens of thousands of migrants who have been paying smugglers to bring them toward Europe by boat.

Malta's International Airport is used for surveillance flights to Libya due to its proximity. The government said the French surveillance operation has been active for about five months.

The Metroliner was registered in the US and leased to a Luxembourg company, CAE Aviation group, which supplied the two contractors who were killed.