Plane crashes in New York state, 49 dead: media reports

Slideshow:Commuter plane crashes into home in upstate NY BUFFALO, New York (Reuters) Forty nine people were killed when a plane crashed into a house near Buffalo, New York, and burst into a ball of flames late on Thursday, newspaper and television reports said.

The plane, a Continental Express flight operated by Colgan Air, was on a flight from Newark, New Jersey, to Buffalo, with 48 people on board when it crashed in the Buffalo suburb of Clarence Center amid rain and sleet, officials said.

The New York Times and other media, quoting officials, said that all 48 people on board were killed and one person on the ground also died.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the plane crashed 6 miles short of the airport.

A local official said the plane was a 74-seat Bombardier Q400, a turboprop plane. The plane is made by Bombardier Inc. Colgan Air is a subsidiary of Pinnacle Airlines Corp

The New York Times quoted an official of Erie County, Chris Collins, as saying that 49 people, including one on the ground, were killed.

Collins said the plane, Continental Airlines Flight 3407, crashed about 10:20 p.m. (0320 GMT Friday), five minutes before it was due to land. The house it crashed into was still engulfed in flames two hours later and Collins said that about 12 houses were evacuated, the Times said.

The Buffalo News quoted a nurse at Erie County Medical Center as saying the hospital's second shift had been told to stay late to treat survivors but was sent home before midnight.

"There were no souls to bring in and treat," she said.

One person who heard the crash from about three quarters of a mile away, said the crash sounded like an earthquake.

"It was almost like on TV where you hear this high pitched sound. It was like an earthquake. You could feel it," the witness, Keith Burtis, told MSNBC.

"I'm downwind from it and the smoke and smell is still pretty strong."

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• 49 dead: media reports

[BablyonsKing]

YOu tell em djtony...

[djtony12inch]

What god Allah, Apollo, Yahweh, Xenu, Thor, Ganesha, John from, or The Tooth Fairy?

[carolgerling]

3slimdog, i believe this was the first one of the year.

[carolgerling]

Were YOU stuck in the crapper? This was something unpreventable. I am not a Christian but i am a believer. God has plans for all of us. He knows what our future holds..What makes this a tragedy for him to "repair" any different than a million other unfortunate happenings.

[3slimdog]

How many crashes since january does this make?

[123rez]

Way to go DJtonywishyouhada12inchdickiny­ou! Your words are idiotic!

[djtony12inch]

Aahh the irony was god stuck in the crapper this time, that he didnt save these helpless people??