A mysterious explosion has been heard across a large area surrounding Washington DC on Sunday afternoon.
The “loud boom” reportedly shook houses in the US capital and was heard as far away as northern Virginia and Annapolis, Maryland, at about 3.15pm.
“People all over DC area report hearing loud explosion shaking some houses,” journalist Oliya Scootercaster posted.
Officials have yet to issue a statement about what caused the explosion, but online commenters said it may have been linked to a DC Air National Guard drill over Chesapeake Bay.
When contacted for information, the Federal Aviation Administration told Fox5 a Cessna aircraft had crashed into mountainous terrain in a sparsely populated area of southwest Virginia around at around 3pm.
“The aircraft took off from Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Elizabethton, Tennessee, and was bound for Long Island MacArthur Airport in New York,” it said.
One person claimed the explosion was connected to an air defence drill being conducted by the DC Air National Guard.
“DC Air National Guard conducted air defense drills over the Chesapeake Bay and was cleared to go supersonic during an alert scramble exercise,” the commenter wrote.
On the Radio Reference forum, one commenter said they had heard an F-16 pilot say that he had gone supersonic over Chesapeake Bay.
The DC Fire and EMS Twitter account said emergency response officials were aware of the reports of a loud boom in the area.
Washington DC Metro police referred The Independent to the US Department of Defense for further information.
The DoD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A Ring doorbell camera appeared to capture the sound at 3.07pm, according to footage posted to Twitter.
The United States Geological Survey did not report an earthquake on the East Coast at that time.
Twitter users reported hearing the explosion as far away as Alexandria, Virginia.
Thomas O’Brien said he had been on a FaceTime with family in Maryland who immediately got off the call because of the explosion.
“Weird that nobody seems to know what caused it,” wrote