Business jet with 8 on board crashes during takeoff in Maine

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A business jet crashed and burst into flames during takeoff Sunday night in Maine, killing at least a half-dozen people on board, officials said.

Bangor International Airport was closed after the incident at 7:45 p.m. Sunday and will remain shuttered until at least Wednesday, officials said.

The aircraft “crashed under unknown circumstances on departure” before it “came to rest inverted and caught on fire,” according to preliminary Federal Aviation Administration findings.

“According to the flight manifest, there were six people on the flight,” Bangor police said in a statement Monday afternoon.

“No one from the incident was transported to the hospital, and all on the flight are presumed to be deceased,” they said.

Initial reports Sunday night indicated that eight people were on board the flight.

The FAA said Monday morning that seven were dead and that it had no information about an eighth passenger.

But airport spokesperson Aimee Thibodeau said local officials are confident that there were six passengers and six deaths.

“We have confirmed the six souls on board with the manifest that was filed, and that includes passengers and crew,” Thibodeau said. “So that is confirmed through our officials that check the flight manifest.”

The National Guard, local firefighters and first responders from “approximately 10 other municipalities responded to the scene” where the twin-jet Bombardier Challenger 600 went down, Airport Director Jose Saavedra said.

The temperature was about 2 degrees, with a windchill of minus 13 and light snow, around the time of the crash Sunday night, according to the National Weather Service.

Winds were out of the northeast at about 10 mph.

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Bangor was under a winter storm warning Sunday.

“Certainly, the weather is challenging,” Bangor Police Sgt. Jeremy Brock told NBC affiliate WCSH of Portland.

Allegiant, American, Breeze, Delta and United Airlines all fly out of the Bangor airport, which is about 300 miles east of Montréal–Trudeau International Airport and nearly 240 miles north of Boston Logan Airport.

The victims had not been identified by Monday afternoon.