Three Israelis Killed in Small Plane Crash in Maryland

Three people with Israeli citizenship were killed on Sunday when a light plane crashed in Maryland, the United States. American rescue forces rushed to the scene and pronounced all three dead there. The aircraft was a Piper PA-28, which had taken off earlier from New Jersey, apparently as part of a local flight school operation.

U.S. law enforcement said only the pilot and two passengers were on board, and there were no survivors. The wreckage was found behind a residential neighborhood in Prince George's County, in an open area near a wooded, heavily overgrown patch of land. U.S. media reported that the plane went down after disappearing from radar.

Rescue teams carried out an extensive search in difficult terrain late into the night, and located the crash site at about 3:45 a.m. local time. The debris was scattered across roughly 30 meters because of the force of the impact. The aircraft came down in an area just behind a local housing development.

Federal authorities have opened a formal, wide-ranging investigation into the cause of the crash, which remains unknown. Maryland state police said officers and aviation accident experts are working at the site to reconstruct the final minutes of the flight, while federal investigators collect physical and technical evidence to determine what led to the fatal accident.