Washington, Aug 11 : An plane has crashed after it was stolen by a ground employee from an airport in Washington state, authorities said.

North American Aerospace Defence Command scrambled fighter jets on Friday night to accompany the Horizon Airlines plane, which was steered away from Seattle and Tacoma by air traffic control, on its hour-long flight, ABC News reported.

The crash took place on Ketron Island, southwest of Tacoma. The small island has only about 20 year-round residents.

The employee who stole the plane from the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport was 29 years old, from Pierce County and called "suicidal" by the sheriff's department.

The department clarified that this was not a terrorist incident. "Most terrorists don't do loops over the water," Sheriff Paul Pastor said. "This might have been a joyride gone terribly wrong."

"Stolen horizon airplane crashed into Ketron island. Preliminary info is that a mechanic from unknown airlines stole plane. Was doing stunts in air or lack of flying skills caused crash into Island," Pastor tweeted.

The plane, a Bombardier Dash 8 - Q400, has the capability to hold about 75 passengers and is used for short travel. The FBI said it was in contact with officials, but it was too early for them to comment on specifics.

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Mumbai (PTI): BJP MLC Amit Gorkhe on Thursday claimed a Pune-based hospital refused to admit the pregnant wife of his personal secretary due to non-payment of advance deposit of Rs 10 lakh.

The woman, Tanisha Bhise, later died at another hospital after giving birth to twins, he said in a video message.

Her husband Sushant works as a personal secretary to Gorkhe.

The hospital refuted the allegations and blamed the woman's kin for giving "misleading information".

"Despite an assurance to pay Rs 3 lakh immediately, the hospital denied admission to the patient. Even a call was made from Mantralaya to the Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, but it did not yield any response from the hospital," Gorkhe alleged.

"The woman was later taken to another hospital, where she gave birth to twin girls but passed away. This is a serious issue. I request the chief minister to take strict action against the hospital. I will also raise this matter in the upcoming legislative session," Gorkhe said.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sushma Andhare also took to social media and asserted the hospital sought Rs 10 lakh as deposit despite the woman's kin agreeing to arrange Rs 2.5 lakh immediately and the rest in a short period.

"Even after a call from Mantralaya, the hospital did not change its stand. The patient had to be shifted to another hospital, where she delivered twins but did not survive. Had the hospital administration shown some humanitarian consideration, Tanisha Bhise might have been alive today," Andhare stated.

BJP leader and MLC Chitra Wagh also criticised the hospital's action and sought strict action, including revoking licences of doctors or hospitals found guilty of such behaviour.

"If this is the treatment meted out to someone close to a legislator, one can only imagine the plight of ordinary patients," Wagh said.

Wagh in her post on X said, "The doctors were supposed to offer support to the woman but they showed their commercial interest only. If such type of treatment is offered by the hospitals operated by charitable trusts, then the doctor's license should be cancelled and hospital should be closed. One strong step would give a message to others who practice in such way."

The hospital, meanwhile, refuted the allegations and blamed the woman's kin for giving "misleading information".

"We will prepare a detailed report about the incident and will submit it to the health department of the state. The report will have detailed medical information about the incident which was concealed by the kin of the deceased woman,” said Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital medical director Dr Dhananjay Kelkar said.