2 dead after gender reveal party in Cancun ends in plane crash
Two people are reported dead after a gender reveal party in Cancun, Mexico, ended with a plane — streaming a sign that the baby would be a girl — nosediving into the ocean.
What are the details?
An expectant couple and their guests were filming the small propeller plane on a boat in the Caribbean Ocean when the tragic incident took place, the Daily Mail reported. In a video of the reveal, people can be heard shouting in celebration, "It's a girl!" before the camera catches the plane plunging into the water.
The plane, reportedly a Cessna 206, made a swooping turn over the party boat before appearing to lose speed and begin a rapid descent. The Spanish-speaking spectators could be heard shrieking in terror after seeing the plane crash.
Two individuals, a pilot and co-pilot, were onboard the plane at the time of the crash. One had reportedly died by the time medical first responders arrived on the scene while the other died as paramedics conducted an operation on dry land.
Mexican authorities are said to be investigating the incident.
According to the Daily Mail, the plane, which had been rented for the party from a company called Xomex, took off from a location around 40 miles northwest of Cancun before making its flyby in the Nichupte lagoon.
Right as the plane was approaching, a spectator on the boat reportedly said, "It's all good as long as it doesn't end up crashing into us."
What else?
The incident quickly garnered international attention because it happened during a gender reveal party. Such parties, which have become wildly popular in recent years, have also sparked significant backlash for the unintended consequences that continue to happen as a result.
In February, a father-to-be in New York died while trying to put together an explosive device for the celebration. The device was supposed to explode in a cloud of colorful powder but instead sent a piece of shrapnel flying.
Earlier in the same month, a gender reveal party in Michigan similarly claimed the life of an attending friend who was fatally struck by a piece of shrapnel.
Perhaps the most well-known disaster attributed to a gender reveal party occurred last year in California when a couple shot off a pyrotechnic device that sparked the massive El Dorado Fire.