A Thai Police Viking DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft plunged into the sea shortly after takeoff from Hua Hin Airport on Friday morning, killing all six officers onboard.
Eyewitnesses on the beach captured the harrowing moments as the plane, part of a parachute training mission, appeared to roll mid-air before nosediving into shallow waters off the coast of Hua Hin District, Prachuap Khiri Khan Province.
“It just flipped and went straight down into the water. It was terrifying to watch,” said one beachgoer who filmed the crash on their phone.
Thai authorities confirmed that five officers died on impact. A sixth was pulled from the wreckage alive but succumbed to his injuries en route to the hospital.
“This is a devastating loss,” a police spokesperson stated. “All six officers have been identified, and our thoughts are with their families during this tragic time.”
Investigators are now at the crash site and have begun retrieving the aircraft’s flight data recorder (FDR), which is standard equipment on the police force’s Twin Otter fleet.
The cause of the crash remains unknown. “We are working urgently to determine what led to this tragedy,” said an official from the aviation investigation team.
More details will be provided as the investigation continues.