Two people rescued after spending hours in a small plane over power lines in Maryland

Two people were rescued from a small plane in Maryland early Monday morning, hours after they hit a power line, causing widespread power outages in surrounding counties.

Montgomery County Fire Chief Scott Goldstein said the plane was secured to the tower at 12:16 a.m. local time, with the first crew off the plane at 12:25 a.m. and the second crew at 12 a.m. said he was out in the 36th minute

Goldstein was the first of the men identified by Maryland police as Washington DC pilot Patrick Markle, 65, and Louisiana passenger Jean Williams, 66, from a plane stranded at a height of about 100 feet. It did not disclose who it was. ground.

He said both men suffered “severe injuries” from the crash, and hypothermia was also a problem.

In a statement, the Federal Aviation Administration said a single-engine plane departing from White Plains, New York, struck a power pylon near Montgomery County Air Park in Gaithersburg around 5:40 p.m. Sunday.

Pete Piringer, chief spokesperson for the Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service, said on Twitter that those on board were not injured and that rescuers were in contact with them. He stated in a video message at one point that there were three people on the plane, but later revealed there were two.

Notice of power outages and closures

Public works contractors first had to ground the high-voltage wires so that rescuers could work safely, Goldstein said. I planned to chain or strap the plane to the tower to stabilize the .

The FAA has identified the plane as a Mooney M20J.

The video showed a small white plane nose-up near the power tower.Live video from a local TV station showed the plane remained stranded on a transmission tower after 8 p.m.

Power company Pepco reported that about 120,000 customers were without power in Montgomery County. At the time of rescue, most power had been restored to counties outside the crash site. Goldstein said the next step would be to secure the plane, remove it, then rewire and reconnect the power lines.

Pillinger said schools in Montgomery County have announced that they will be closing schools on Monday.

The crash site occurred in Gaithersburg, a city of 69,000 people located about 40 kilometers northwest of Washington, DC.

The cause of the crash was not immediately apparent. The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate what happened.