This is the terrifying moment tourists screamed as a fighter jet performs an extremely low pass over a crowded beach during an airshow in Spain.
Footage circulating online shows a Spanish Air Force EF-18 Hornet fighter jet hurtling towards the sea and the beach packed full of sunbathers after executing an acrobatic stunt in the sky.
Puffs of black smoke escape from the jet as it turns upside down in the air, before swooping down to what appears to be just metres above the golden sand.
Crowds of tourists on San Lorenzo Beach in northern Spain can be seen filming the incident on their phones, awestruck at the frightening sight, while some beach-goers appear to let out screams in shock.
In another video, groups of onlookers stationed on a hill to film the airshow can be heard raising their voices in alarm at the spectacle.
The jet was performing as part of the nineteenth edition of the Gijón Air Festival held on Sunday July 27 over San Lorenzo Bay in Asturias, Spain.
After momentarily swooping near onlookers on the sand, the loud jet can be seen continuing its flight away from the populated beach.
Around 250,000 attend the Gijón Air Festival annually – Spain’s popular aeronautical event which began in 2006.
The frightening scenes sparked a discussion online as to whether the stunt was planned, or a result of the pilot losing control.
‘Very risky maneuver… is that allowed?’ one user wrote on TikTok.
‘For me it looked like he lost too much height during the roll and pulled up too hard, making him lose a lot of speed, unintentionally. Could be the perspective, too,’ another wrote on Reddit.
But some members of the public were impressed by the jet’s performance. ‘I witnessed that live and it was one of the best things I’ve seen in a long time,’ one person said on TikTok.