A private jet out of control, a sonic boom and a deadly plane crash: what is known about the incident in DC

The owner of the plane that flew over a restricted area in the nation's capital and ended up crashing in a mountainous area of Virginia said his daughter, a 2-year-old granddaughter and her nanny were on board. The White House and Capitol Hill were placed on high alert. This is what we know about the accident.

Residents of Washington DC and the surrounding area were given a huge scare on Sunday by a massive and mysterious explosion that only hours later was revealed to have been a 'sonic boom' caused by two F-16s that had come out to intercept a private jet outside control in the airspace of the capital.

The plane, a Cessna 560 Citation V that flew over Washington and Virginia without responding to calls, was intercepted by two National Guard F-16s that had been cleared to exceed the speed of sound, causing the roar felt by the capital.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) reported that the fighters used flares to get the pilot's attention without him responding.

The Cessna crashed at around 3:30 p.m. local time in a "hilly area" near Montebello, Virginia. In the place, according to the first emergency teams, it left a crater.

This is what is known about the accident.

Who are the victims of the accident?

According to The New York Times, the plane was registered to the company Encore Motors of Melbourne.

Its owner, John Rumpel, 75, told the newspaper that his daughter, a 2-year-old granddaughter and her nanny were on board, returning to their home in East Hampton, New York after a family visit in North Carolina. .

Rumpel also told The Washington Post that he was in contact with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), stated that his "entire family" was on the plane and regretted that "no one could survive" given the rate of descent before crashing.

Virginia State Police told nearby channel WFXR on Sunday night that searches were in progress, however the weather conditions was terrible.

"Right now nothing has been found," police said in a proclamation Sunday night.

What route was he taking and where did the plane crash?

The FAA said the plane was bound for MacArthur Airport on Long Island, the area of New York state where East Hampton is located, and had left the city of Elizabethton in North Carolina's neighboring state of Tennessee.

A flight following site showed that the Cessna had traveled to a height of 34,000 feet and arrived at Long Island, however apparently it didn't land, rather making a beeline for the Washington region.