A business jet crashed and burst into flames during takeoff Sunday night in Maine, killing at least a half-dozen 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.
“According to the flight manifest, there were six people on the flight,” according to a Bangor Police Department Statement on Monday afternoon.
“No one from the incident was transported to the hospital, and all on the flight are presumed to be deceased.”
Initial reports on Sunday night indicated that eight people were on board the doomed flight.
And by Monday morning, the FAA said there were seven dead and had no information about an eighth passenger.
But BGR spokesperson Aimee Thibodeau said local officials are confident that there were six passengers and six fatalities.
“We have confirmed the six souls on board with the manifest that was filed, and that includes passengers and crew,” Thibodeau said. “So that is confirmed through our officials that check the flight manifest.”
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.
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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.
The victims had not been identified by Monday afternoon.
Joe Kottke, Anna Sundberg, Jay Ganglani and Dennis Romero contributed.
