A gender reveal stunt ended in tragedy on Tuesday when the plane carrying out the reveal crashed into the sea off the coast of Cancún, Mexico. Two people in the airplane died in the incident, and authorities are investigating.
On March 30, a Cessna 206 with registration XA-UPC departed Holbox Island bound for Cancún, SIPSE News reports. The Cessna 206 is a light single-engine aircraft popular with smaller commercial operations and bush pilots. The plane was owned by XOMEX, which provides an air taxi and personalized services in Mexico. Some local reports say that the plane may have been carrying four occupants.
At around 3:54 p.m. local time, the plane flew over the Nichupté Lagoon near the Hotel Zone of Cancún. According to Mega News, the moment of the plane’s flyby was captured by relatives of the pregnant woman from a boat in the lagoon. In the video, you can hear them guess that the baby is a boy just before pink smoke from the plane proves them wrong.
Immediately after the plane buzzes by the boat, it appears to pull a hard turn before nosediving into the lagoon.
The Mexican Association of Nautical Tourism arrived on scene to assist in the rescue attempt. Unfortunately, two of the Cessna’s occupants died in the crash. Here is the video captured by the relatives. Warning: That the crash is hard to watch.
Gender reveals have caused mayhem, injury and even death, a result of wildfires and explosions caused by the stunts. Another gender reveal involving aircarft went wrong in 2019 when a plane dropped hundreds of gallons of pink water before crashing.
It is not yet known what caused the crash.