An aircraft crashed into a residential high-rise building on New York City’s Upper East Side this afternoon, igniting several apartments before pieces of the aircraft crashed to the ground, the police and witnesses said.
Keith Bedford/Reuters
The aircraft struck 524 E. 72nd Street, a 50-story condominium tower.
The New York Times
A small aircraft hit an upper floor of the Belaire Condo building at 524 E. 72nd. St.
Police officials said two bodies were found on the ground, possibly passengers or crewmembers from the aircraft, but the authorities are just beginning their investigations. There are no reports of any injuries yet.
A Fire Department spokeswoman, Emily Rahimi, told The Associated Press that the aircraft struck the 20th floor of the building, 524 E. 72nd St., near York Avenue. However, television reports and witnesses said the aircraft hit closer to the 40th floor. That building and one next door were evacuated, police said.
The authorities have not said whether the aircraft was a small airplane or a helicopter.
Television views of the fire showed flames shooting out of four windows and smoke that streamed up into the sky, visible for miles. The building is a 50-story condominium that was built in 1986, The A.P. said, and has 183 apartments. Many of the lower floors held offices for doctors and other professionals.
The crash interrupted the routine of an urban afternoon that consisted of construction work inside the building, doctor’s appointments and came at the end of the school day for nearby students.
Kim Quarterman, 50, a doorman at 411 E. 70th St., said he head a noise about 2:45 p.m. "It sounded like a truck gearing down," he said. "You know how a truck sounds when it’s trying not to hit something? Then I saw a cloud of smoke."
After that, he picked his daughter, Chablis Quarterman, 13, at a nearby school.
"My dad and I tried to get as close as we could, but by then, all you could see was smoke," she said.
Samuel Klotman, 17, was on the roof of his school nearby with classmates when they saw the plane coming down.
“I could see through the buildings what I thought was a plane headed to this building,” he said. “Then there was a booming noise and a great fire gust shooting out.”
He said he and his classmates started text messaging and calling everyone they knew, “wondering what was happening,” and the school let everybody go home.
