Glider crashes into Melton field near busy road after mid-air collision

Emergency services are still at the crash site of one of the gliders – in a field close to the new Bellway housing estate off the Leicester Road.

Two air ambulances were spotted arriving at the scene to deal with casualties with wreckage of one of the gliders scattered around the field.

The second glider is believed to have come down outside the town and there have been reports that the pilot of that one was not seriously injured.

Richard Voytak, who arrived on the Bellway estate scene shortly after the collision and the crash of the first glider, told the Melton Times: “Two gliders have crashed into each other and I believe that one person has died, and maybe two.

"I came out here when I heard lots of helicopters and sirens and shouting.

"It’s a tragedy if someone has died doing something they enjoy as a hobby.

"It was so close to the road and you have to think they may have steered it away from the road and houses before it came down – if that was the case they are a hero.”

A group of children at the site said they heard the collision and one said that one of the gliders had hit a chimney on a house in nearby Redbrook Crescent before coming down.

Several residents at the scene said they’d been told there had been a fatality but this has not yet been confirmed.

A nearby resident, who declined to be named, said: “I saw the air ambulance and didn’t realise at first how serious the incident was.

"We got here about 3.30 and I think it happened about 2.30.

"It is worrying that it happened so close to the Leicester Road and these new houses – it could have been an even worse tragedy.”

A Leicestershire Police spokesman said: “We are aware of this incident and officers are in attendance along with the East Midlands Ambulance Service and Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service.

"The Air Accidents Investigation Branch has also been informed.

"We cannot provide any further information at this time.”