A gender reveal stunt off the coast of Mexico went terribly wrong this week when a plane announcing the baby’s sex crashed into the sea, killing two people who were on board, according to multiple reports.
The expecting couple, their friends and family were watching the small aircraft fly over the Nichupte Lagoon off the coast of Cancun Tuesday afternoon when the plane took a nosedive into the water, The U.S. Sun reported.
According to local media, the plane, which had taken off from Holbox, was a Cessna 206 rented from Xomex. The family was reportedly riding on a boat for the gender reveal party and recording video just as the plane plummeted into the water.
In footage posted to social media, people could be heard shouting that it’s a “girl” moments before the crash.
Personnel from various emergency services participated in rescue operations. One person died during the rescue effort, Francisco Fernández Millán, president of the Nautical Association of Quintana Roo, said in a statement to La Prensa Latino. A second person was reportedly rescued alive but died while receiving first aid from paramedics.
The Federal Civil Aviation Agency is investigating the incident.
This latest crash follows numerous other calamities tied to gender reveals. The stunts have evolved from cutting colored cakes or popping balloons filled with blue or pink confetti to much more dramatic affairs. In the extreme, the stunts have started major wildfires in California and Arizona, sent parents to court and led to deaths, including earlier this year when a New York man died after the device he was building for a party exploded.