Maryland Plane Crash: Six Dead After Small Plane Crashes Into Home [Updated]

Three people have been reported dead (Update: The death toll has now gone up to six) after a small plane they were travelling in lost altitude and crashed into a Maryland home. According to Fox News, the accident happened in Gaithersburg, a Washington, D.C. suburb, on Monday morning. The area comes under Montgomery County. Several reports add the possibility of the plane containing a fourth person. This is not confirmed at this moment.

Eyewitnesses terrifyingly recall the moment of the crash. The Fox News report cites 67-year-old Fred Pedreira, who is a resident of the area where the plane crash occurred. According to him, he saw the jet coming down as he was trying to park his car after a short trip to the grocery store. He says that the moment he saw the jet, he knew something was seriously wrong with it.

“This guy, when I saw him, for a fast jet with the wheels down, I said, `I think he’s coming in too low. Then he was 90 degrees — sideways — and then he went belly-up into the house and it was a ball of fire. It was terrible.” he told The Associated Press.

“I tell you, I got goosebumps when I saw it. I said, `My God, those are people in that plane,” Pedreira said. “I just hope nobody was in that home,” Pedreira adds.

Another neighbor, who was in the vicinity when the plane crashed was 31-year-old Byron Valencia. He was in his kitchen when he heard the sound of a low flying jet followed by a loud thump a few seconds later.

“When I opened my window, I could see smoke over the trees and I heard a small explosion, like a pop,” he said. “I could see the smoke rising… It’s scary.”

According to Pete Piringer, a spokesman for the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue, at least three people who were on that plane have not survived the crash. According to Piringer, the plane crash happened at around 11 a.m., local time. The impact of the plane crash resulted in a fire that also spread to two other homes nearby, reports ABC News. Fire and Rescue crews reached the spot within minutes and had the fire under control within an hour. They are currently in the process of searching people who might have been inside the home at the time of the plane crash.

Investigations done until now has confirmed that the aircraft that was involved in the plane crash was a Embraer EMB-500/Phenom 100 twin-engine jet. It was on its way to the nearby Montgomery County Airpark. The plane crash would be investigated by senior officials from the NTSB.

The news about this latest plane crash comes just a few weeks after the Inquisitr had reported about another plane crash in Connecticut.

Update: Fresh reports say that three people who were inside the house were also killed in the crash, taking the death toll to six.

[Image via Jose Luis Magana/ AP]