A business jet crashed and burst into flames during takeoff Sunday night in Maine, killing seven of the eight people on board, officials said.
Bangor International Airport (BGR) was closed after the 7:45 p.m. Sunday incident and will remain shuttered until at least Wednesday, officials said.
The aircraft “crashed under unknown circumstances on departure” before it “came to rest inverted and caught on fire,” according to preliminary Federal Aviation Administration findings.
Airport director Jose Saavedra said he wanted to defer to FAA and National Transportation Safety Board investigators.
“We’re not ready to share additional information,” Saavedra told reporters on Monday.
The National Guard, local firefighters and first responders from “approximately 10 other municipalities responded to the scene” of the twin-jet Bombardier Challenger 600 going down, according to Saavedra.
The temperature was about 2 degrees, with a windchill of minus 13 and light snow around the time of the crash on Sunday night, according to the National Weather Service.
Winds were out of the northeast at about 10 mph, data from the service showed.
Bangor was under a winter storm warning Sunday.
“Certainly, the weather is challenging,” Bangor Police Sgt. Jeremy Brock told NBC affiliate WCSH of Portland, Maine
Allegiant, American, Breeze, Delta and United Airlines all fly out of BGR, which is about 300 miles east of Montréal–Trudeau International Airport and nearly 240 miles north of Boston Logan Airport.
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