Another Gender Reveal Party Turns Deadly After A Plane Crash
A chartered plane crashed killing two people in yet another gender reveal gone horribly wrong
It’s happened again. A gender reveal party has turned deadly after an over-the-top stunt went wrong, once again making us question if we should just stop doing them.
According to multiple news sources, an expectant family was celebrating the gender reveal of a new baby on a yacht near Cancun, Mexico, when the plane charged with announcing the surprise suddenly nose-dived into the sea during a series of stunts. While it’s unclear how many people were onboard the plane, we do know that two people were killed in the crash: one died during the crash and the other during rescue and first aid.
A disturbing video captured the crash, which occurred in the Caribbean Sea in the Nichupte Lagoon. In the first seconds, the plane can be seen zooming above, while family and friends aboard the boat yell, “It’s a girl!” as a pink cloud is released from the plane. But seconds later, the plane loses control and crashes perpendicularly into the ocean. The celebratory yells turn to shouts of horror.
One party-goer can be heard saying, “This can’t be happening!”
The tragic accident took place on Tuesday afternoon. Reports say the plane that took off from Holbox was a Cessna 206 rented from Xomex. It’s not yet clear what might have caused the crash, but Mexico’s Federal Civil Aviation Agency will investigate the incident.
A harmful history of gender reveal celebrations
This is far from the first time that a gender reveal has turned tragic. In recent years, reveals have escalated from simple cake-cuttings and balloon-poppings to canons, flames, and stunts.
In February, a dad-to-be in New York died in an explosion while building a gender reveal device, while his brother was badly injured. And in October 2019, a party-goer in Iowa died in another gender reveal explosion when a piece of shrapnel from the device struck her.
The parties have also started several serious fires. Last fall, a gender reveal party resulted in a huge deadly wildfire that ate up 100,000 acres in Southern California. Less than a year before, yet another botched gender reveal celebration in Arizona lit 47,000 acres ablaze (it was a boy).
And as tragic as these accidents are, they aren’t the only issue with gender reveal parties. Activists and celebrities like Demi Lovato have been speaking out about how these celebrations are transphobic and ignorant in the way that the confuse sex and gender as well as in the way they enforce gender binaries and stereotyping. Maybe it’s time we thought about just celebrating our babies and leaving their sex out of it?
