Having taking off from Cascais aerodrome, a Swiss registered twin-engine aeroplane exploded and crashed into the carpark of a branch of Lid shortly after 11:00 on Easter Monday.
The four people onboard, three French and one Swiss, were killed as was the driver of an Algarve-based lorry which was hit in the supermarket loading area.
The PA-31 Piper Navajo took off from the airfield and flew for about two kilometres before plunging to the ground, crashing in the commercial area behind the supermarket after hitting a house and the lorry.
The three French passengers and the Swiss pilot, the millionaire owner of Symbios Orthopaedics, Jean Plé, were confirmed dead at the scene and four people later were treated for smoke inhalation.
Shoppers inside the supermarket were able to leave without incident after safety procedures were put into action.
Cascais aerodrome managers stated this afternoon, "today at 11:05, the flight of a private operator, Symbios Orthopédie SA, involving a PA-31 aircraft took off from Cascais to Marseille, with three passengers and a crew member and crashed near the airport. The aerodrome emergency plan was immediately activated. The airport is currently closed to air traffic."
Lisbon said an alert was received at 12:05 and the National Civil Protection Authority later stated that "everything indicates that an explosion took place in the air," a view backed up by eye-witnesses.
Portugal’s President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, travelled to the scene whcih was identifiable by a column of smoke rising from the densely populated Tires area of Cascais.
