(New York - WABC, October 11, 2006) - The Federal Aviation Administration has confirmed that a small fixed-wing aircraft in an exclusion airspace crashed into an Upper East Side building Wednesday afternoon. A spokesperson for the FBI says there is no indication of terrorism in the crash.
Several windows of an apartment were blown out in an apartment building at the Belaire building on 524 East 72nd Street, between York and East End Avenue.
An eyewitness who saw the crash said she saw a "huge fireball." Another eyewitness told reporter Dave Evans that he was walking, heard a crash and a crunching sound and then saw smoke.
Sandy Teller, eyewitness: "It's a mob scene with police and helicopters circling. ... There's a dozen ambulances and lots of firemen waiting on 72nd, on the corner. There's lots of stretchers ready, gurneys. And lots of emergency people waiting."
Eyewitness News' Shannon Sohn was in Newscopter 7, watching the raging fire that sent a pillar of black smoke over the city. There was no immediate word on any deaths or injuries.
The Belaire is a high rise building near the Hospital for Special Surgery. A fire was reported on the 41st floor after the crash. FDNY crews are on the scene working to put the blaze out.
The New York City Red Cross said it is mobilizing and heading to the scene. The NTSB is also heading to the scene to investigate what happened on the Upper East Side.
The incident's affecting traffic: The MTA says bus service in the area will experience reroutes and delays.
The FAA has now established a temporary flight restriction, which means no aircraft may fly within one mile radius around or fifteen hundred above the accident scene.
Two burned corpses on the ground...