Posted to General on

BREAKING NEWS: Small Aircraft Crashes Into NYC High Rise Building

FOX News

Click Here for LIVE COVRAGE from CBS2
Click Here for newscast of the event (CNN)

A small aircraft crashed into a high-rise building on Manhattan’s Upper East Side Wednesday.

Local news reports quoted New York Fire Department officials as saying two people were confirmed dead. The FDNY confirmed to FOX News that there are people trapped inside the building on floors above where the fire is located.

FBI spokeswoman Christine Monaco said there was no indication the crash was a terrorist attack.

There were dozens of firefighters, emergency workers and other first responders on the scene.

The crash set off a raging fire that sent a pillar of gray smoke over the city, police said. Witnesses reported seeing a gigantic fireball come out of the building, police said.

Flames could be seen shooting from windows on two upper floors of the 50-story building, near the East River. Burning debris fell from the tower, and a column of gray smoke rose over the city.

“There’s huge pieces of debris falling,” said one witness who refused to give her full name. “There’s so much falling now, I’ve got to get away.”

Fire Department spokeswoman Emily Rahimi said the aircraft struck the 20th floor of the building, located at 524 East 72nd Street.

The Federal Aviation Administration is handling reaction to the incident. FAA spokeswoman Diane Spitaliere that it was a small, fixed-wing aircraft that was involved, but there was very little other information collected so far. A helicopter would be expected in that area of the city; no other aircraft should be around that part of Manhattan, the FAA said.

“Everyone was running down the street, kids were screaming and crying,” Rich Behar, a New York City resident and former Time magazine reporter, told FOX News. “There was a lot of horror and terror when it hit,” Behar added, saying the whole ordeal reminded him of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

As of 3:25 p.m. ET, the incident had not affected flights coming in or out of the New York area.

The building is a 50-story condominium tower built in 1986 and located nearby Sotheby’s Auction House. It has 183 apartments, many of which sell for more than $1 million.

A spokesman for the National Transportation Security Board said that agency is organizing a team to send to New York to investigate the crash.

Map of the location

Related Articles

22 Comments

  • vivi

    oh my gosh!!!!

    looks really scary!!!!!!!

    what is it from????/
    i wouldnt think its a terrorist attack again!!!

  • Anonymous

    This is LIVE and ongoing as of 3:55 PM

    The building is still being evacuated.

    Stay tuned for an in depth report!

  • A Fan....

    Webby,
    good job on your stories and updates, i dont bother with CNN anymore ;)
    thanks
    a fan

  • metsalltheway

    they say Yankees picher Cori Lidle was the pilot. Please Yankee fans do not destroy our city.

    Lets go Mets

  • Mendel

    even after everyone’s saying this was not a teror attack, my kishkes are telling that this was a teror attack

  • High Flyer in manhattan

    there are a number of unzerer in that building and surrounding areas. very ritzy upper end folks…..hope all is well.

  • no way!!!!!!

    omg!!! hello, do they know who did this? r there still ppl inside? r they trapped? wow, hope this isn’t as bad as 9/11!!!!!!!!

  • MPeee

    Freaky…. a man and in woman in a helicoptor and go slam bam into a building? what happened??

  • Yankees Fan

    Too bad…… The Yankees are really in a hole now, after tthey found out it was one of their pitchers! How much worse can it get for them?!?!?!?!?!?!

  • Emmett Fitzhume

    Our FDNY Firemen are truly amazing! They went into that inferno to insure everyone’s safety! G-d Bless them all!!!

  • ch gal

    Nobody cares to mention that one of the dead was Yankees pitcher- Cory Lidle! He was only 34 and has a wife and 6 yr. old son.

  • FDNY

    great response by the BRAVEST FDNY (EMS included) and FINEST NYPD and our sympathy is with the families of those killed and with the NY YANKEES.