NEW YORK -
A sightseeing helicopter and a small plane collided and crashed into the murky
Hudson River off lower Manhattan on Saturday,
killing all nine people on the aircraft and underscoring the perils of uncontrolled airspace in the busy corridor.Hours after the crash, which occurred about noon as sunbathers, bicyclists, joggers and tourists crowded the parks lining both sides of the
river, divers and search
boats were scouring the water for wreckage and victims. Though the water was only
30 feet deep where the aircraft plummeted, visibility was about
2 feet and the current was powerful, hampering recovery efforts, said
Mayor Michael Bloomberg. At a news briefing held on a pier of the Hudson, a somber Bloomberg said it appeared the crash was "
not survivable."Three bodies had been recovered by the time recovery operations were called off for the evening, said National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Deborah Hersman. It was not clear whether the bodies were from the
helicopter, a Eurocopter
AS350 run by the sightseeing company Liberty Tours, or the plane, which was a single-engine Piper PA-
32R. Bloomberg said the helicopter victims included five Italian tourists and their pilot. The Piper victims, he said, were two passengers, including a child, and the pilot.The crash occurred about
30 blocks south of where a
US Airways jet ditched into the Hudson in January.
Full Story
BEIJING–A typhoon slammed into China's east coast Sunday, flooding entire villages, destroying homes and forcing the evacuation of nearly a million residents, after lashing Taiwan with torrential rains that caused the island's worst flooding in 50 years.
TOKYO:A major 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck off eastern Japan Sunday, the US Geological Survey said.The quake was felt from central to northern Japan, including Tokyo, at 19:56 (1056 GMT), the Japan Meteorological Agency said.The quake rocked buildings in the Japanese capital, but no damage was immediately reported in the city.Some local trains experienced moderate delays, East Japan Railway Co. said.The US agency estimated the quake to be extremely deep at 303 kilometers or 188 miles. Geo World
NEW YORK - A sightseeing helicopter and a small plane collided and crashed into the murky Hudson River off lower Manhattan on Saturday, killing all nine people on the aircraft and underscoring the perils of uncontrolled airspace in the busy corridor.Hours after the crash, which occurred about noon as sunbathers, bicyclists, joggers and tourists crowded the parks lining both sides of the river, divers and search boats were scouring the water for wreckage and victims. Though the water was only 30 feet deep where the aircraft plummeted, visibility was about 2 feet and the current was powerful, hampering recovery efforts, said Mayor Michael Bloomberg. At a news briefing held on a pier of the Hudson, a somber Bloomberg said it appeared the crash was "not survivable."Three bodies had been recovered by the time recovery operations were called off for the evening, said National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Deborah Hersman. It was not clear whether the bodies were from the helicopter, a Eurocopter AS350 run by the sightseeing company Liberty Tours, or the plane, which was a single-engine Piper PA-32R. Bloomberg said the helicopter victims included five Italian tourists and their pilot. The Piper victims, he said, were two passengers, including a child, and the pilot.The crash occurred about 30 blocks south of where a US Airways jet ditched into the Hudson in January. Full Story
Rival environmental groups are lining up supporters to try to take control of a new net domain aimed at green groups.
