3 dead in crash of plane flying from Pembroke, Ont., to P.E.I.

An airport managersays three people have died after a small plane heading from Pembroke, Ont., toPrince Edward Island crashed in rural Maine during an attempted landing.

Jesse Crandall saidwitnesses reported seeingthe airplane pass over Greenville Municipal Airportbefore crashing in a field on the approach to the runway at about 11 a.m. on Monday.

"They turned around over the airport and were coming back, banked sharply ... and they hit the ground real hard," he said in a telephone interview.

Crandall arrived at the airport just minutes after the crash, wherefirst responders told him there were no survivors in the mangledtwin-engine propeller Piper Smith-Aerostar 600 light aircraft.

He said he had been receiving calls from aviation authorities informing him that the Canadian plane had communicated it was in distress and needed to make an emergency landing at his community's airport.

Local police chief says 3 dead after plane flying from Pembroke, Ont. crashes

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Jeff Pomerleau, Greenville police chief, says his service received a call around 10: 45 a.m. about a plane in distress heading to the Town of Greenville.

'A whole lot of people hurting from it'

"It's a sad day ... and now there's a whole lot of people hurting from it, all the families," said Crandall, who is alsomanager of the Town of Greenville.

A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration said the plane had departed Pembroke and was bound for Charlottetown when it went down, and that the agency would be sending an investigator.

Jennifer Layman a spokesperson for the Pembroke and Area Airport, where the plane took off said the private flight was one of two that departed around 9 a.m. ET on Monday.

She said the Pembroke airport received a call from the Greenville airport at about 11:30 a.m. ET, advising them of the crash.

The National Transportation Safety Agency is looking into the matter and will investigate the probable cause of the crash.

Agency spokesman Terry Williams said an investigator is en route and will speak to witnesses, arrange for the aircraft to be moved to a secure location and will gather evidence such as the engine condition, maintenance condition and the pilot's records over the next 10 days.

The identities of the victims have not been released.

Greenville is about 240kilometresnorth of Portland, Maine, in a rural part of the state's interior. Pembroke is about 150 kilometres northwest of Ottawa.