U.S. Navy drone crashes in Maryland, no injuries

WASHINGTON, June 11 (Reuters) - An unarmed U.S. Navy drone aircraft crashed on Monday during a test flight in Maryland, plummeting into a marsh area around the Chesapeake Bay without injuring anyone or causing property damage, the Navy said.

The cause of the crash of the unmanned spy plane was under investigation, a Navy spokesman said. The incident took place near Bloodsworth Island, about 70 miles southeast of Washington DC, at around noon.

The drone that crashed was one of the Navy's Broad Area Maritime Surveillance-Demonstrators (BAMS-D), which is the Navy's variant of the Global Hawk high altitude surveillance plane manufactured by Northrop Grumman Corp.

A U.S. Coast Guard patrol boat is enforcing a 500-yard safety zone around the crash site, a Coast Guard spokesman said. (Reporting By Phil Stewart; Editing by Andrew Hay)