A private jet carrying eight people has crashed while taking off from Bangor International Airport in the US state of Maine, aviation authorities have said. The Bombardier Challenger 600 went down at around 19:45 local time (00:45 GMT on Monday), the Federal Aviation Administration said, but the fate and identities of those on board were not immediately clear. The incident came as a dangerous winter storm barrelled across a large swathe of the US, killing several people and leaving hundreds of thousands without power. Pilots had reportedly been struggling with visibility at the airport before the crash.