Plane crash in Buffalo, NY - Killing 49
- Update 10:20 PM (EST) Thursday night,
Reports say it took place just 5 minutes away from landing at Buffalo Niagara International Airport late Thursday night, in light snow. All 49 were reported dead at the scene.
Witnesses say the Continental Express airplane flying from Newark, N.J., to Buffalo, N.Y., plane fell from the sky, straight down, slammed into a home "with a sound like an earthquake" and burst into flames lighting up the night sky "brighter than daylight".
According to the airline, there were 44 passengers - 4 crew members aboard. One person on ground was also killed.
"It was just like a huge great big crash, a boom," said Sandra Baker, who lives two blocks from the site of the crash on Railroad Street. Both of her sons were . . .
. . .at the scene of the crash as volunteer firefighters.Baker said the town, which she described as "small town U.S.A.," will reel from what she said would be the biggest tragedy it has ever seen.
The plane, Continental Airlines Flight 3407, ripped through a home near the hamlet of Clarence Center, about 5 minutes before it was due to land. It went down in light snow, according to Ted Lopatkiewicz, a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board, said at midnight that he didn't know if there were any survivors.
12 house had to be evacuated, according to Erie County executive Chris Collins. He said at a news conference later that a limited state of emergency was declared.
Laura Brown, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said there was no distress call in the seconds before the crash. "It just dropped off the radar," she said.
A joint investigation was being done by the State Police, the Eric Country Sheriff's Office and the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority. A safety board team of investigators will arrive in Buffalo on Friday morning, Lopatkiewicz added, according to the Times report.A Reuters report said the plane was a 74-seat turboprop, Bombardier Q400, made by Bombardier Inc.
The flight was operated by Colgan Airways, a feeder airline for Continental, according to the Times report.
Colgan also flies as a feeder for U.S. Airways and United Airlines. According to Colgan's web site, the company launched the 74-seat Q400, operating as Continental Connection, from Newark Liberty International Airport in February 2008.
Colgan Air was launched in 1991 as a regional airline with headquarters in Manassas, Va., according to its Website. It was acquired by and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Pinnacle Airlines Corp. a subsidiary of Pinnacle Airlines Inc. In 2007. Colgan operated 38 SAAB 340 and 15 Q400 aircraft as of Jan. 1. It has more than 1,300 employees. In 2007, Colgan flew 2.5 million passengers, according to its Website.
