GAITHERSBURG, MARYLAND (AP) Two people were rescued yesterday over six hours after their small plane crashed into live power lines, causing widespread outages in Montgomery County, Maryland.
Montgomery County Fire Chief Scott Goldstein said the plane got stuck in the lines about 30 metres above the ground at around 5.40pm on Sunday. Responders secured it to the tower at 12.16am yesterday, and the first occupant was removed from the plane at 12.25am. The second occupant was out at 12.36am.
Maryland State Police identified them as pilot Patrick Merkle, 65, of Washington, DC, and passenger Janet Williams, 66, of Marrero, Louisiana. Both suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries and that hypothermia set in while they waited to be pulled from the plane, Goldstein said.
The single-engine Mooney M20J hMad departed White Plains, New York, and crashed into a power line tower near Montgomery County Airpark in Gaithersburg, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a statement.
The FAA, National Transportation Safety Board and Maryland State Police are investigating.
Utility contractors had to disconnect the high-tension wires to make it safe for rescuers to stabilise the plane.
The utility Pepco reported that some 120,000 customers were without power in Montgomery County, but most of them, outside of the crash site, had their electricity restored before the people were pulled from the plane.
The Montgomery County Public School system decided on Sunday to close its schools and offices yesterday due to the outage’s impact on safety and school operations. The closures extended to childcare programmes, the system tweeted yesterday.
