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| Debris falls from an apartment building on New
York's Upper East Side after a small plane with New York Yankees
pitcher Cory Lidle aboard crashed into it Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2006.
[AP] |
At least two people were killed when a small aircraft crashed into a
52-story building on Manhattan's Upper East Side on Wednesday in what
appeared to be an accident, officials said.
The four-seat plane was
owned by Yankees baseball pitcher Cory Lidle, sources at the New York
police department told Reuters. The FAA confirmed the plane was owned by
Lidle, 34. CNN said the pilot of the plane was Lidle and he was believed
to have been killed.
U.S. and New York officials said they had no reason to believe the
crash, which occurred in overcast weather, was related to terrorism.
A New York police department spokeswoman said the crash killed two
people and possibly more.
Military fighter jets
patrolled several U.S. cities as a precaution, the North American
Aerospace Defense Command said.
"NORAD fighters are airborne over numerous cities. They are airborne
now as a prudent measure," said NORAD spokeswoman Kyle Combs. She did not
say which cities were being patrolled, or how many, but added the
fighters were sent up right after the plane crashed into the building.
On Wall Street, U.S. stocks extended losses but quickly recovered once
it became clear the crash was not an attack similar to the hijacked plane
attacks of September 11, 2001.
"We have no reason to believe at this point that it is terrorist
related," said New York City Police Chief Michael Collins.
Kathy Robinson, a spokeswoman for New York Presbyterian hospital said
the facility had taken in one dead person and nine injured people in its
emergency room.
The plane took off from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, just miles
from Manhattan, a Port Authority of New York and New Jersey spokesman told
Reuters, adding he did not know how many people were on board.
The aircraft crashed at East 72nd St. and York Avenue, near the East
River, a 1980s building housing mainly upscale residential apartments but which also has a
specialized hospital on the bottom 12 floors.
(Agencies) | 
