3 Killed as Plane Crashes Near Playground

Three people have been killed after a single-engine plane crashed close to a playground in Maryland. Police said the Piper Cherokee plane was traveling from Ocean City, New Jersey, to the Montgomery County Air Park when it came down in the woods in a residential area of Bowie. Images from local media show police tape closing off a playground just a matter of feet away from where the plane was located at 3:45 a.m. on Sunday. The three male victims, a pilot and two passengers, were pronounced dead at the scene. No one else was injured. Maryland State Police believe the aircraft belongs to a local flight school in Montgomery County. Investigators also believe the plane may have been on a training flight when it crashed for “reasons unknown at this time.” State police spokeswoman Elena Russo told The Washington Post that the crash, close to a residential neighborhood, “absolutely could have been much worse.” She added, “It’s already a tragedy that we’ve lost three lives, but the fact that they narrowly missed a residential area in Bowie—we’re very fortunate.”

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