Three Israelis Killed in Small Plane Crash in Maryland

Three Israelis were killed overnight in a small plane crash in a wooded area of Maryland, less than 30 kilometers east of Washington, D.C., according to local police. There were no survivors. The single-engine Piper PA-28 went down around midnight near Bowie in Prince George's County, and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board has opened an investigation.

Initial findings suggest the plane may have been on a training flight. Officials said the aircraft, apparently linked to a local flight school, had departed from Ocean City, New Jersey, and was headed to Montgomery County, Maryland, when it crashed for reasons that remain unclear. The pilot and two passengers were the only people on board.

Emergency crews were alerted by an automatic distress signal sent from one passenger's iPhone, described by authorities as an "iPhone crash notification." Firefighters, rescue teams, and police searched the area in the dark for nearly four hours before finding the wreckage at 3:45 a.m. The crash site was close to a residential neighborhood and a local playground, and the debris field stretched about 30 meters.

Maryland police media officer Eleanor Russo said, "It was dark, without lights. The investigation will examine whether it makes sense to send out flights like this at night." She added, "At this stage, we do not know what happened between New Jersey and Maryland. We have no eyewitnesses or other evidence about the incident."