Emergency services have been called after a light aircraft crashed at Beccles Airfield in north Suffolk.

Police, fire crews and the ambulance service were dispatched to the scene at about 2pm today, Thursday, March 24.

Eleven emergency service vehicles were called, including seven fire engines from Woodbridge, Leiston, Wrentham, Beccles and Lowestoft South stations, to the scene.

A Suffolk police spokesman confirmed a light aircraft crashed at the airfield, but the pilot's condition is not known at this time.

Wreckage of the craft could be seen in the rapeseed field northwest of the runway.

An onlooker said: "There's lots of emergency services and an air ambulance."

While the eyewitness did not see or hear the crash, he added: "The helicopter landed in a cornfield and I heard all the emergency crews racing to the scene after."

One man, who did not wish to be named, said he was cycling home when he saw the overturned aircraft in the rapeseed field while fire teams hosed the smoking machine.

“Whether it was a mechanical failure or human error, I don’t know,” he said.

Another man who regularly drives around the area to watch aircraft taking off and landing said he arrived while emergency services were tending to the crashed aircraft.

One air ambulance came, but the man was unsure whether anyone was loaded into it.

The man said it looked like any visitors flying to the airfield would probably be needing to find another way home while the runway was occupied by emergency services.

The East of England Ambulance Service has been approached for comment.