A private jet carrying eight people crashed shortly after takeoff Sunday night at Bangor International Airport in Maine, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
The Bombardier Challenger 600 went down at about 7:45 p.m. Authorities had no immediate information on the condition of those on board. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board have launched an investigation.
The crash occurred as New England and large parts of the United States were battered by a major winter storm. Bangor and much of the region had been seeing steady snowfall throughout the day.
The airport said emergency crews were on the scene and that the facility was closed after what it described as an incident involving a single departing aircraft.
Bangor International Airport offers direct flights to cities including Orlando, Florida; Washington, D.C.; and Charlotte, North Carolina. It is located about 200 miles (320 kilometers) north of Boston.
The storm dumped sleet, freezing rain and snow across much of the eastern U.S. over the weekend, halting air and road traffic and cutting power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in the Southeast.
Commercial air travel was also heavily disrupted.
About 12,000 flights were canceled Sunday, and nearly 20,000 were delayed, according to flight tracker FlightAware. Airports in Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore, North Carolina, New York and New Jersey were among those affected.
The Bombardier Challenger 600 is a widebody business jet configured for nine to 11 passengers. Launched in 1980 as the first private jet with a “walk-about cabin,” it remains a popular charter option, according to Air Charter Service.
