Three Israelis were killed on Saturday when a small Piper plane crashed in a wooded area near Bowie, Maryland, in the United States. The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation with help from the Federal Aviation Administration and Maryland police, and investigators are also examining an initial theory that the aircraft may have run short of fuel. A preliminary report is expected in the coming weeks.
The plane was owned by the WIFA flight school in Gaithersburg and had taken off from Ocean City Airport in New Jersey for a nighttime training flight that was supposed to end about 75 minutes later in Maryland. Flight data show the aircraft followed its planned route before beginning a gradual descent in the Bowie area, far from its intended destination. Shortly after it disappeared from radar, search teams found the wreckage near a residential neighborhood and a playground.
All three people on board were killed, and no one on the ground was hurt. The victims' names have not yet been released, pending identification and notification of their families.
At the same time, ZAKA's international unit was working at the crash site and supporting the families while also handling another case in the United States. Within 24 hours, the unit dealt with the release of the bodies of two 40-year-old Israelis killed in a self-inflicted car crash in Malibu, Los Angeles, and with the plane crash in the eastern U.S. ZAKA deputy operations chief Chaim Weingarten said the past day had been especially difficult, adding that volunteers were working with local authorities and helping speed the return of the dead to burial in Israel.
