No survivors found at plane crash site in Augusta County; four people reported on board

AUGUSTA COUNTY, Va. (WDBJ) - UPDATE: The FAA confirmed four people were on board a Cessna Citation plane that crashed into mountainous terrain near Montebello on Sunday afternoon. Virginia State Police stated no survivors were found at the crash site.

The Augusta County Sheriff’s Office and Augusta County Fire-Rescue started searching the area by ground and air for the plane crash. Just before 8 p.m. on Sunday, first responders arrived at the crash site by foot. No survivors were located.

Virginia State Police suspended its search efforts by 10 p.m. on Sunday evening.

EARLIER STORY: Virginia State Police and local law enforcement are conducting search efforts for a possible plane crash in the Staunton/Blue Ridge Parkway region. F-16 Fighter Jets were scrambled when it flew over restricted airspace in Washington D-C.

Officials say the plane was unresponsive when they tried to contact it. The F-16′s did not shoot down the aircraft, but did use flares to try to get the pilot’s attention.

It crashed near the George Washington Forest around 3:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon.

Search efforts were concentrated in Augusta County near Saint Mary’s Wilderness in Raphine on Sunday evening.

Virginia State Police was notified of a possible aircraft crash around 3:50 p.m. on Sunday. As of 5 p.m. on Sunday, state and local law enforcement has not found anything related to the crash.

State police is not able to fly in the area because of fog and low clouds within the mountains.

The FAA confirmed a Cessna Citation crashed into mountainous terrain in a sparsely populated area of Virginia around 3 p.m. on Sunday. The aircraft took off from Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Elizabethton, Tennessee and was bound for Long Island MacArthur Airport in New York.

The FAA and NTSB are investigating.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.

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