WW-II Aircraft Plunges into Grandstands during an airshow in US, Many Killed

Moments after Aircraft crashed in Grandstands

 Nevada, United States : Several people have died and injured when a vintage aircraft crashed into the ground at an air show in the US state of Nevada, a spokesman and video images showed. 

President and CEO of Reno Air Races,Mike Houghton, told a news conference hours after the crash that mechanical problems might have caused a World War II-era fighter plane to plunge into the grandstands at a Nevada air show on Friday. 

Stephanie Kruse, a spokeswoman for the Regional Emergency Medical Service Authority, said 25 people were critically injured and another 25 people were seriously hurt in the crash. 

Killed in the crash was the pilot, 74-year-old movie stunt pilot Jimmy Leeward, and others on ground.

"We're being told that there are likely fatalities," race spokesman Mike Draper told CNN, adding that there were "mass casualties" in the crash, amateur video of which was posted on YouTube and shown on the news network." 

It's just like a massacre. It's like a bomb went off," said eyewitness Gerald Lent, quoted by the Reno Gazette-Journal.

"There are people lying all over the runway." The aircraft was a World War II P-51 Mustang fighter jet, called the 'Galloping Ghost.' It was piloted by a Florida real estate developer, the newspaper reported.