Private jet with 8 people on board crashes in US

A private jet with eight people on board crashed while taking off from Bangor International Airport in the US state of Maine on Sunday night, aviation authorities confirmed.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the aircraft — a Bombardier Challenger 600 — went down at around 7:45pm local time. Officials said that there was no immediate information available about the condition of the passengers or crew.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) have launched a formal investigation into the incident.

The crash happened as large parts of New England and other regions of the United States were being hit by a powerful winter storm. Bangor had been receiving steady snowfall throughout the day, with similar weather affecting much of the country.

In a statement, airport authorities said that emergency response teams were quickly dispatched to the scene. The airport was temporarily shut down following what officials described as an incident involving a single aircraft departing the facility.

Bangor International Airport, located roughly 200 miles north of Boston, operates direct flights to several major US cities, including Orlando, Washington, DC, and Charlotte, North Carolina.

The accident came amid widespread disruption caused by the severe weather system sweeping across the eastern United States.