A man has died in a light aircraft crash on the Essex-Suffolk border, police said.
The man, 51, was pronounced dead at the scene in Belchamp Walter, near Sudbury, at about noon on Sunday.
Essex Police said they were called to the scene by reports of a “light aircraft in distress” at 11.50am and eight fire engines from Essex and Suffolk went to the scene.
The crash site is about five miles from Ridgewell Airfield, the home of Essex Gliding Club.
An Essex Police spokesman said the man’s next of kin had been informed.
Police have set up a cordon and uniformed officers are at the entrance points to the field where the crash happened, according to Jane Walker, the chairman of Belchamp Walter Parish Council.
The area is largely farmland, with scattered woods and the villages of perhaps no more than about 600 people.
Mrs Walker, who saw an air ambulance land at the site, said: “It is really out of the usual and I think it took a lot of people out of the blue.
“Our feelings go out to the poor man who has died and his family. Our condolences are with them.”
She said there has been the “initial shock” of the tragedy which has been followed by a “good” community spirit as local people tried to help.
The village hall has been used as a staging centre where hot drinks have been available for the emergency workers who attended the scene.