Three Israeli citizens were killed after a light aircraft crashed in the US state of Maryland, authorities said Sunday. Rescue crews located the wreckage after several hours of searching and confirmed that all three people on board had died.
The aircraft, a Piper PA-28, had departed from New Jersey earlier in the day. According to preliminary information from US authorities, the flight was connected to a flight school activity. The pilot and two passengers were the only occupants.
The plane crashed in Prince George’s County, Maryland, in a wooded area near a residential neighborhood. Search operations began after the aircraft disappeared from radar. Emergency crews conducted an extensive search in difficult terrain before locating the crash site at approximately 3:45 a.m. local time.
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According to US media reports, the impact severely damaged the aircraft, scattering debris across a wide area.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation. Federal aviation authorities have launched a probe to determine what led to the accident.
A spokesperson for Maryland State Police said air crash investigators had been deployed to the scene. Specialists are examining physical evidence and technical data recovered from the site to reconstruct the aircraft’s final moments.
The identities of the victims have not yet been released.