7 dead, 1 survived after private jet crashed while taking off during winter storm

Seven people have been confirmed dead after a private plane with eight people on board went down in flames at an airport in Maine over the weekend. 

The Bombardier Challenger 600 crashed during takeoff from Bangor International Airport (BIA) around 7:45 p.m. local time on Sunday, Jan. 25, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement on X. 

According to an initial accident notice from the FAA, seven people di£d and one survived. 

All of the fatalities were listed as passengers, while the sole survivor was identified as a member of the flight crew. 

The cause of the crash remains under unknown, but officials said that the aircraft caught on fire after it came to a rest upside down. 

Although additional information about the identifies of those on board has not yet been publicly shared. CBS affiliate KHOU and Reuters previously reported that the plane was registered to a Houston-based law firm and had flown into Maine from Texas, according to KHOU. 

Government officials previously told Reuters that there was a “significant fire after the crash.” 

The incident occurred as snow began falling at the airport, amid poor weather conditions in the region, Reuters and KHOU reported. However, it was not immediately clear if weather played a role in the incident. 

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating. 

Images taken at the scene of the crash showed the plane upside down amid flames and an airfield filled with smoke.  

According to KHOU, at the time of the crash, the jet had at least a mile of visibility and there was full visibility on the runway.