A search operation for a missing private plane ended early Sunday after authorities located the aircraft’s wreckage and recovered three bodies from a wooded area near a residential community in the US state of Maryland, officials said, according to media reports.
The pilot and two passengers aboard the single-engine Piper Cherokee were pronounced dead after rescue teams found the crashed aircraft in the city of Bowie, according to ABC News.
Maryland State Police said the bodies of three adult men were recovered from the wreckage.
Authorities have not released the identities of the victims as officials work to notify their next of kin.
"Investigators believe the aircraft belongs to a local flight school in Montgomery County. Police believe the aircraft may have been participating in a training flight," according to the statement from the state police.
The aircraft departed from Ocean City, New Jersey, at approximately 11.30 pm ET on Saturday (0330GMT Sunday) and was headed to Montgomery County Air Park in Maryland when it went down.
An iPhone crash alert received about 15 minutes after takeoff prompted a multi-agency search operation in the Bowie area, officials said.
The aircraft crashed in a wooded area near homes, but no injuries were reported on the ground.
The crash remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration.
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