American Airlines flight 587 en route to the Dominican Republic from New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport crashed early on Monday at 0917 local time in the densely-populated borough of Queens, just 20 miles from Manhattan. A reported 255 people – nine of whom were crew members – were on board and are all believed to have died in the crash.
Outgoing New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani immediately put the city on Level One alert. Firefighters struggled to control blazes in Rockaway Beach, the section of Queens where the plane went down, as up to 12 buildings were reported to have been affected.
Eyewitnesses near the crash site reportedly saw an explosion on the right side of the A-300 airbus just before the airliner went down. There is no word on the cause of the explosion, though Pentagon officials are not ruling out terrorism at this point.
New York officials closed all three local major airports – JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark – as a precautionary measure. The bridges and tunnels into Manhattan were initially shut down but have since reopened.
The crash scene is understandably tense, as this crash comes two months almost to the day after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US.
“Just a lot of smoke. Tons and tons of smoke,” reports one witness. “You can see emergency vehicles heading to the area. Lots of people are standing in the streets.”
World leaders are anxious for reports, though little more is known at this time. “As you will know we have literally just heard that an aircraft has gone down in New York. We simply don’t know any more details at this time,” says UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims and the American people at this time. I don’t think it is sensible to say anything further.”
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
