Two rescued from plane crash near Washington
WASHINGTON: Two seriously injured people trapped inside a small plane that crashed into high-voltage power lines near Washington, DC and caused mass outages have been rescued, authorities said early on Monday.
“Both patients have been transported to local area trauma centres with serious injuries,” Montgomery County Fire Chief Scott Goldstein said, adding that the two people had suffered hypothermia and orthopaedic and trauma-related injuries.
The aircraft crashed at about 5:30pm local time in misty and wet conditions in Montgomery Village, Maryland, on Sunday, according to the Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service. It became caught up in live power lines about 30 metres from the ground. Goldstein said crews had been able to electrically ground the plane at about 11.30pm and it had been secured nearly 45 minutes later, with both patients coming down by 12.36am.
Most power in the county has been restored, according to Goldstein. Two hospitals were back at full capacity after earlier being limited, he said.
Washington-area utility company Pepco said it had restored electric service for all customers who had been impacted by the incident. The company was continuing to stabilise energy infrastructure at the scene and assessing damage before beginning repairs, it added.
Crews were still working to remove the plane from power lines, the Montgomery County MD Office of Emergency Management & Homeland Security said.