Shoreham Air Disaster Inquest To Open

Shoreham Air Disaster Inquest To Open

The inquest into the deaths of the 11 Shoreham air disaster victims will be opened and adjourned.

All the victims' names will be officially released during today's hearing at County Hall North in Horsham, West Sussex, from 10.30am.

Families of those who died have been invited to the opening of the inquiry by West Sussex senior coroner Penelope Schofield's office.

Due to inquiries by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), the inquest will be adjourned to a later date.

Details of 10 of the victims have emerged since the disaster occurred during the Shoreham Airshow at 1.20pm on August 22.

It happened after a vintage Hawker Hunter jet failed to pull out of a loop-the-loop stunt and crashed onto the busy A27 nearby, exploding into a fireball.

The dead include window cleaner Mark Trussler, 54, from Worthing, and cyclists and friends Dylan Archer, 42, from Brighton, and Richard Smith, 26, from Hove.

NHS manager Tony Brightwell, 53, from Hove, grandfather Mark Reeves, 53, from Seaford, and Worthing United footballers Matthew Grimstone and Jacob Schilt, both 23, also died.

Other victims include personal trainer Matt Jones, 24, wedding chauffeur Maurice Abrahams, 76, and Daniele Polito, from Worthing. One victim has not been named.

Detective Chief Inspector Carwyn Hughes, the senior identification manager at Sussex Police, has said they have no reason to suspect anyone else died.

Thousands of people from communities across Sussex gathered at memorial events at the weekend, one week on from the crash.

The plane wreckage has been sent to Farnborough, Hampshire, where AAIB investigators are seeking to find out what caused the crash. An interim report is due in days.

The jet's pilot, Andrew Hill, was left fighting for his life after the crash, and has been moved to a specialist hospital for treatment.

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