GAITHERSBURG, Md. (AP) — A small plane carrying two people got stuck in live power lines Sunday evening in Maryland, causing widespread power outages in the encompassing county as officials tried to extricate the aircraft.
The Federal Aviation Administration said in a press release that the single-engine plane, which had departed White Plains, N.Y., crashed into the ability lines near Montgomery County Airpark in Gaithersburg around 5:40 p.m. Sunday. The FAA said two people were aboard.
Pete Piringer, chief spokesperson for the Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service, said on Twitter that the people on board are unhurt and that rescuers had been involved with them. He had at one point said in a video message that three people were on the plane but later clarified that it was two.
The FAA identified the plane as a Mooney M20J.
The video showed a small white plane positioned nose up near an influence tower. A neighborhood television station’s live video showed the plane remained stuck within the transmission tower after 8 p.m.
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The plane was stuck about 100 feet (30 meters) above the bottom, and the transmission lines remained live, complicating rescue efforts, Piringer said.
“All the things continues to be energized at the moment,” he said.
The utility Pepco reported that about 80,000 customers were without power in Montgomery County. Piringer said that many traffic lights were also out in the world. The utility said in a press release that its personnel were waiting for rescuers to clear them to enter the scene before they will make repairs at the location of the crash.
The crash took place in Gaithersburg, a city of 69,000 people about 24 miles (39 kilometers) northwest of Washington, D.C.
The reason for the crash wasn’t immediately clear. The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate what happened.
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