Italy investigates if plane hit birds before deadly crash

The Italian air force is investigating whether an aircraft of its acrobatic team hit birds before it crashed near an airport, killing a child on the ground (Matteo Secci/LaPresse/AP)

The Italian air force is investigating whether an aircraft of its acrobatic team hit birds before it crashed near an airport, killing a child on the ground.

A five-year-old girl and her family were travelling in a car near the perimeter of the airport near the northern city of Turin when the aircraft crashed on Saturday afternoon, bursting into flames and smashing through the airport fence.