A gender reveal party turned deadly after a small plane nosedived and killed the pilot in front of cheering guests, all oblivious to the tragedy that unfolded above their heads. A happy couple were celebrating their pregnancy with family and friends in Sinaloa, Mexico, and had hired a small jet to fly past and dump either pink or blue colored powder to indicate the gender of their baby.
 

A Tragic Turn of Events

As the plane approached the mom and dad-to-be, who were standing next to an 'Oh baby' sign, it released pink smoke from its fuselage, indicating they would be having a daughter.

But in the same moment, the Piper PA-25-235 Pawnee aircraft suddenly shot upwards, rotating on its side as one of its wings collapsed midair. The aircraft continued to spiral out of control, past the palm trees in the background of the couple's idyllic moment in the town of San Pedro, Sinaloa.  Before realizing the tragedy that had occurred, the couple continued to embrace while family members congratulated them. 

Luis Angel, age 32, was the pilot and the only person in the small plane, according to local media. He was found lying in the rubble after the crash. He was rushed to hospital where he sadly died, according to the Aviation Safety Network. 

Clips from the tragic moment have gone viral on social media, and an image of what is believed to be the mangled aircraft showed the extent of the damage. Footage from beyond the garden where the gender reveal party was taking place also showed how the plane continued to tumult through the sky before crashing. The limp plane, still spewing out pink powder, flew past a parking lot before eventually hitting the ground.  

This is not the first time that an elaborate gender reveal party has turned deadly. In recent years, people have come up with more creative, and sadly more dangerous ways to announce to their loved ones if they're having a girl or a boy.

Unfortunately Not the First Time

In October 2019, a grandmother in rural Iowa was killed at a gender reveal party after being hit by shrapnel from a homemade pipe bomb that her family built to shoot out the colored powder. Pamela Kreimeyer, 56, died after the explosion sent debris flying at her home in Iowa. She was struck in the head by a piece of metal from 45 feet away and died instantly. The Marion County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the family had been 'experimenting with different types of explosive material'. Police said the family hoped to post the reveal on social media for loved ones.

It is understood the family placed gunpowder in the bottom of a homemade stand that was welded to a metal base plate. After drilling a hole in the side for a fuse, a piece of wood was placed on top of the gunpowder and colored powder was placed on top of the board. Tape was then wrapped over the top of the metal tubing, inadvertently creating a pipe bomb.

In February 2021, a 28-year-old father-to-be was killed in New York after a device he was building for his child’s gender reveal party exploded. Christopher Pekny was assembling the device, said to include a pipe, in the garage of his home in the Catskills town of Liberty when it blew up.

Weeks before that, another man was killed in Michigan when he was struck by shrapnel from a gender reveal cannon at a friend's baby shower. Evan Thomas Silva, 26, of Hartland, was killed on February 6 2021 outside a home in Genesee County's Gaines Township. Four people were in the backyard of the home when the small cannon was fired.

While revealing the gender of children may be something considered fun and cause joy, it is important to know the boundary between fun and danger. Spewing colored smoke can be fun, but building bombs and doing dangerous stunts shouldn’t be the focus of a gender reveal party. The focus should be on revealing the gender, and not how it's revealed.