US: Fighter aircraft were launched over several US cities yesterday after a light aircraft crashed into a high-rise building in Manhattan, starting a fire and killing at least two people, writes Denis Staunton.
New York police sources said the aircraft was owned and piloted by Yankees' baseball pitcher Cory Lidle (34) who was reportedly killed in the crash.
Officials said an initial assessment suggested that the crash was an accident but it triggered anti-terrorist response measures put in place after the attacks of 9/11, 2001.
"The initial indication is that there is a terrible accident," said a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security.
The aircraft slammed into the 20th floor of a residential building on the Upper East Side, engulfing at least three apartments in flames.
The lower floors of the building, at 524 East 72nd Street, are occupied by a hospital, so the 20th residential floor is the equivalent of the 32nd floor in another building.
"There's huge pieces of debris falling. There's so much falling now, I've got to get away," one eyewitness told the Associated Press. Local residents feared that it was a terrorist attack. Despite indications that the crash was an accident, US aviation authorities raised the terror alert to red, its highest level.
A military official at the North American Aerospace Defense Command said that as an extra measure of security, there were "numerous fighter jet patrols" over several US cities.