New York, November 12
In yet another frightening air tragedy, an American Airliner today crashed in a residential area minutes after taking off from John F. Kennedy International Airport here killing all 255 persons on board, two months after terrorist strikes in the USA, prompting a fresh high alert across the country.The American Airlines Airbus-300, with 246 passengers and nine crew and bound for Santo Domingo, capital of Dominican Republic, slammed into a posh residential area, 8 km from the airport, with its engine falling first setting many houses on fire.
New York Mayor Rudi Giuliani said there were no survivors from the crash that occurred at 7.44 p.m. (IST).
The casualties on the ground were not immediately known.
The White House did not rule out anything, but said there was "no unusual communication" between the cockpit and the airport tower.
"We are not ruling in anything nor are we ruling out anything," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said, adding that there was no credible threat prior to the crash.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman William Schumann said there was "no indication of a terrorist attack," but that "all options are open at this time."
At least four houses were on fire and a school too was in vicinity but it was closed due to the Veterans’ Day celebrations.
The authorities shut down all major airports and tunnels and bridges in and out of the Manhattan area as fighter planes and helicopters patrolled the sky.
Mr Bush cancelled all his engagements and went into an emergency meeting with his top aides and Vice- President Dick Cheney was in a secured location.
A stunned nation, yet to recover from the September 11 terror strikes on the Pentagon in Washington and the World Trade Center in New York, witnessed on television thick columns of black smoke billowing into the sky from the crash site in the New York borough of Queens opposite Manhattan. The New York authorities immediately launched a massive security operation.
An eyewitness report said debris fell from the sky and saw several homes on fire.
Mr Giuliani said there were two crash sites — one where the plane slammed and another where the engine fell. The 39-storey UN headquarters, where the General Assembly is holding a debate, was sealed off after the crash.
The flight data recorder from a crashed American Airlines jet has been recovered, National Transportation Safety Board chairwoman Marion Blakey said today.
UNITED NATIONS: The crash of an American Airlines plane in New York on Monday was apparently an accident, US Secretary of State Colin Powell told the UN Security Council.
"The reports that I have so far suggest, apparently, that it is an accident," Mr Powell told a public meeting of the council, called to discuss the consequences of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the USA.
Meanwhile, a report from Washington said the FBI, on high alert after the September 11 attacks, believed there was no indication that the crash was a terror attack or that there was an explosion on board.
"Right now we don’t believe it is (a terrorist incident) because we don’t have any information indicating that it is,’’ FBI spokeswoman Tracy Ballinger said.
SANTO DOMINGO: About 150 persons from the Dominican Republic were on board the American Airlines flight that crashed, Dominican President Hipolito Mejia said.
Agencies
