Official: 3 dead, 2 injured in midair collision between plane, helicopter at Maryland airport

FREDERICK, MD -- An airplane and a helicopter collided in the air near an airport in Maryland on Thursday, killing three people and injuring two.

A Cirrus SR22 plane was heading to the Frederick Municipal Airport and an R44 helicopter was involved in a training exercise when the collision occurred near the southwest corner of the airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement. The statement said the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate.

The collision happened at 3:40 p.m., said Capt. Kevin Fox of Frederick County Fire and Rescue. He said it was not yet clear how the collision occurred or which victims were aboard which aircraft.

According to the FlightAware aviation tracking website, the plane flew from Cleveland Regional Jetport in Cleveland, Tennessee.

A tail number visible in aerial footage from WJZ-TV in Baltimore is registered to Graeves Auto & Appliance in Olney, Maryland. A woman who answered the phone at the store about 4:30 p.m. said, "We can't give you any information" and hung up. According to the store's website, Scott Graeves is the owner of the business. No one immediately responded to a telephone message left at his home.

The injured victims were taken to Meritus Medical Center's trauma center in Hagerstown, Fox said. He did not know the extent of their injuries, and a hospital spokeswoman said the patients were still being evaluated.

The aerial footage showed the plane crashed into a stand of trees, and authorities are investigating the possibility that a shed was struck by one or both of the aircraft after the collision, a Maryland State Police spokeswoman said. The collision prompted road closures at rush hour around the airport near Interstate 70.

The airport opened in 1948. It has two runways.

Nurse Nina Pham arrived at the airport last week from Dallas on her way to treatment for Ebola at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.