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    No survivors found after plane that flew over DC, led to fighter jet scramble crashes in Virginia

    WASHINGTON (AP) – A wayward and unresponsive business plane that flew over the United States’ (US) capital on Sunday caused the military to scramble a fighter jet before the plane crashed in Virginia, officials said. The fighter jet caused a loud sonic boom that was heard across the capital region.

    Hours later, police said rescuers reached the site of the plane crash in a rural part of the Shenandoah Valley and that no survivors were found.

    The Federal Aviation Administration said the Cessna Citation took off from Elizabethton, Tennessee on Sunday and was headed for Long Island’s MacArthur Airport. Inexplicably, the plane turned around over New York’s Long Island and flew a straight path down over DC before it crashed over mountainous terrain near Montebello, Virginia, around 3.30pm.

    It was not immediately clear why the plane was nonresponsive, why it crashed or how many people were on board. The plane flew directly over the nation’s capital, though it was technically flying above some of the most heavily restricted airspace in the nation.

    A US official confirmed to the Associated Press the military jet scrambled to respond to the small plane, which wasn’t responding to radio transmissions and later crashed. The official was not authorised to publicly discuss details of the military operation and spoke on condition of anonymity.

    Authorities secure the entrance to Mine Bank Trail, an access point to the rescue operation along the Blue Ridge Parkway where a Cessna Citation crashed over mountainous terrain near Montebello, Virginia in the United States. PHOTO: AP

    Flight tracking sites showed the jet suffered a rapid spiraling descent, dropping at one point at a rate of over 30,000 feet per minute before crashing in the St Mary’s Wilderness.

    The North American Aerospace Defense Command later said in a statement that the F-16 was authorised to travel at supersonic speeds, which caused a sonic boom that was heard in Washington and parts of Virginia and Maryland.

    Virginia State Police said officers were notified of the potential crash shortly before 4pm and rescuers reached the crash site by foot around four hours later. No survivors were found, police said.

    US President Joe Biden was playing golf at Joint Base Andrews around the time the fighter jet took off.

    Spokesperson for the US Secret Service Anthony Guglielmi said the incident had no impact on the president’s movements. Biden was playing golf at the Maryland military base with his brother in the afternoon.

    A White House official said the president had been briefed on the crash and that the sound of the scrambling aircraft was faint at Joint Base Andrews.

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