This is very strange.
Five dead as plane hits skyscraper
April 18, 2002 Posted: 4:08 PM EDT (2008 GMT)
MILAN, Italy (CNN) -- At least five people are dead and dozens injured after a small private plane hit Italy's tallest skyscraper, causing a massive explosion that shook windows of nearby blocks and carved a huge gash into the side of the 32-storey structure.
Interior Minister Claudio Scajola said the crash appeared to be an accident and an Italian law enforcement official told CNN they had no evidence of any link to terrorism. In Washington, sources said there was no intelligence about a specific terrorist attack targetting Italy.
Thirty to 40 people from the 127-metre-high (415-feet) tower in the centre of the city were taken to hospital with injuries, mostly broken arms and legs, a reporter on the scene told CNN. ( VIDEO: Crash sets top floor on fire)
One Milan hospital, Fatebene Fratelli, said it had received 20 injured, including a woman with burns.
A number of witnesses said they saw flames coming from the plane before it hit, according to Italian radio. The pilot had radioed saying he had trouble with his landing gear.
"He wasn't able to land so he swung toward the city, something he absolutely shouldn't have done," said Alfredo Roma, head of Italy's civil aviation authority.
The Swiss pilot of the Rockwell Commander A112 plane was identified by Italian civil aviation officials as Luigi Fasulo, 75, who was well-known to people at Magadino Airport, near Locarno, Switzerland, local TSI television said.
The plane, en route from Magadino to Rome, Italy, smashed into the Pirelli Tower's 26th floor at 5:55 p.m. (1555 GMT) on Thursday.
The Pirelli building is next to the city's central train station. Several storeys were engulfed in fire, though this was extinguished by 8:00 p.m. (1700 GMT).
Several people were on the 25th floor at the time of the crash, but all the floors above were being renovated and were empty, Swiss radio said. Authorities said most of the workers had left the building -- which houses government offices -- for the day before the crash.
The weather was clear at the time of the crash, which left a huge gaping hole in the side of the skyscraper with smoke pouring from the opening. There was another hole on the other side of the slim building. A large section of an entire floor lost its walls.
"It was shocking," said Luccheta Antonio, 52, a barber down the block told Reuters. "The windows shook and the mirrors."
"It was a violent explosion," said Stefano Bottazzi, 35, who works in a skyscraper 500 yards from building. "The clock fell to the floor." TV pictures from the scene evoked horrific memories of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the collapse of the building's twin towers.
Frightened office workers evacuated the building as they feared a collapse of the building like those in New York.
But officials said there was no imminent danger the building would collapse. The central Milan airport was shut down within an hour after the crash as a precaution, government officials said.
The building involved is known as the Pirelli Tower but the Italian tyre and cable company does not operate out of the building.
The skyscraper, located near the central train station, is Italy's loftiest and one of the world's tallest concrete buildings. It was designed in the 1950s by architects Gio Ponti and Pier Luigi Nervi. The building is one of the main symbols of Milan, along with the city's cathedral. (Chronology: Skyscraper tragedies)
Aides informed President George W. Bush of the crash and the White House promised to work with Italian authorities.
"The president, just moments ago, was informed about the incident in Milan," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters. "I think you can presume that we will be, if we are not already, in touch with Italian authorities."
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was returning to Italy from Bulgaria Thursday to attend a meeting of the country's crisis unit after a small tourist plane hit a high-rise in central Milan, a spokesman said.
Berlusconi was in Bulgaria after a visit to neighbouring Romania.
<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/04/18/italy.milan/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>
Five dead as plane hits skyscraper
April 18, 2002 Posted: 4:08 PM EDT (2008 GMT)
MILAN, Italy (CNN) -- At least five people are dead and dozens injured after a small private plane hit Italy's tallest skyscraper, causing a massive explosion that shook windows of nearby blocks and carved a huge gash into the side of the 32-storey structure.
Interior Minister Claudio Scajola said the crash appeared to be an accident and an Italian law enforcement official told CNN they had no evidence of any link to terrorism. In Washington, sources said there was no intelligence about a specific terrorist attack targetting Italy.
Thirty to 40 people from the 127-metre-high (415-feet) tower in the centre of the city were taken to hospital with injuries, mostly broken arms and legs, a reporter on the scene told CNN. ( VIDEO: Crash sets top floor on fire)
One Milan hospital, Fatebene Fratelli, said it had received 20 injured, including a woman with burns.
A number of witnesses said they saw flames coming from the plane before it hit, according to Italian radio. The pilot had radioed saying he had trouble with his landing gear.
"He wasn't able to land so he swung toward the city, something he absolutely shouldn't have done," said Alfredo Roma, head of Italy's civil aviation authority.
The Swiss pilot of the Rockwell Commander A112 plane was identified by Italian civil aviation officials as Luigi Fasulo, 75, who was well-known to people at Magadino Airport, near Locarno, Switzerland, local TSI television said.
The plane, en route from Magadino to Rome, Italy, smashed into the Pirelli Tower's 26th floor at 5:55 p.m. (1555 GMT) on Thursday.
The Pirelli building is next to the city's central train station. Several storeys were engulfed in fire, though this was extinguished by 8:00 p.m. (1700 GMT).
Several people were on the 25th floor at the time of the crash, but all the floors above were being renovated and were empty, Swiss radio said. Authorities said most of the workers had left the building -- which houses government offices -- for the day before the crash.
The weather was clear at the time of the crash, which left a huge gaping hole in the side of the skyscraper with smoke pouring from the opening. There was another hole on the other side of the slim building. A large section of an entire floor lost its walls.
"It was shocking," said Luccheta Antonio, 52, a barber down the block told Reuters. "The windows shook and the mirrors."
"It was a violent explosion," said Stefano Bottazzi, 35, who works in a skyscraper 500 yards from building. "The clock fell to the floor." TV pictures from the scene evoked horrific memories of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the collapse of the building's twin towers.
Frightened office workers evacuated the building as they feared a collapse of the building like those in New York.
But officials said there was no imminent danger the building would collapse. The central Milan airport was shut down within an hour after the crash as a precaution, government officials said.
The building involved is known as the Pirelli Tower but the Italian tyre and cable company does not operate out of the building.
The skyscraper, located near the central train station, is Italy's loftiest and one of the world's tallest concrete buildings. It was designed in the 1950s by architects Gio Ponti and Pier Luigi Nervi. The building is one of the main symbols of Milan, along with the city's cathedral. (Chronology: Skyscraper tragedies)
Aides informed President George W. Bush of the crash and the White House promised to work with Italian authorities.
"The president, just moments ago, was informed about the incident in Milan," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters. "I think you can presume that we will be, if we are not already, in touch with Italian authorities."
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was returning to Italy from Bulgaria Thursday to attend a meeting of the country's crisis unit after a small tourist plane hit a high-rise in central Milan, a spokesman said.
Berlusconi was in Bulgaria after a visit to neighbouring Romania.
<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/04/18/italy.milan/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>
