Seven people have been killed in western Slovakia after two planes carrying dozens of parachutists crashed following a mid-air collision.

Zuzana Farkasova, a spokesman for the firefighters division of Slovakia’s Interior Ministry, said the collision took place at around 0720 GMT on Thursday morning near the village of Cerveny Kamen.

Reports says 15 people are also missing following the incident.

Juraj Denes, an official from the Slovak Air and Naval Investigations Bureau, said preliminary information shows nearly 40 people were on board the two L-410 aircraft at the time of the collision, which took place at an altitude of 1,500 meters. Both planes were on a parachuting trip.

The parachutists were reportedly training for this weekend’s air show in the nearby Slavnica village.

Denes added that a number of parachutists survived the Thursday air accident by jumping out of the two aircraft moments before the collision, without providing the exact number of survivors.

Rescue workers reportedly used helicopters to reach the crash site in the country’s White Carpathians mountain range near the border with the Czech Republic.

According to local media reports, Slovak Health Minister Viliam Cislak and Interior Minister Robert Kalinak also visited the crash site.