GAITHERSBURG: A small, private jet crashed into a house in Maryland on Monday, killing three people on board the plane and leaving three residents of the home unaccounted for, authorities said.

Three people were on board the jet when it crashed into the home in Gaithersburg, a Washington, D.C. suburb, county Fire and Rescue Chief Steve Lohr said during a news conference.

They were all killed and three residents who live at the home are unaccounted for, he said. He released no other details about the home’s residents.

The two-story, wood-frame home was gutted by the impact of the crash and ensuing blaze. The first floor was nearly completely blown out and smoke drifted from a gaping hole in what was left of the collapsing roof.

Two adjacent homes also had significant damage, with one of them clearly having caught fire, as well.

Fred Pedreira, 67, who lives near the crash site, said he had just returned home from the grocery store and was parking his car when he saw the jet and immediately knew something was wrong.

“This guy, when I saw him, for a fast jet with the wheels down, I said, ‘I think he’s coming in too low”, Pedreira said.

“Then he was 90 degrees — sideways — and then he went belly-up into the house and it was a ball of fire. It was terrible. “I tell you, I got goosebumps when I saw it. I said, ‘My God, those are people in that plane,” Pedreira said.

“I just hope nobody was in that home”. Byron Valencia, 31, who also lives nearby, said that he was in his kitchen when he heard a jet engine flying overhead, and then a big thump shortly after.

“When I opened my window, I could see smoke over the trees and I heard a small explosion, like a pop,” he said. “I could see the smoke rising ... It’s scary”. An FAA spokesman said preliminary information showed the Embraer EMB-500/Phenom 100 twin-engine jet was on approach at the nearby Montgomery County Airpark. The National Transportation Safety Board was launching a team to investigate.

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2014