Continental Flight 3407 Plane Crash Clarence Center near Buffalo NY - 49 Killed

Brief Summary: A small commercial plane (Continental Flight 347) carrying 5,800 pounds of fuel crashed into a home on Thursday night at 10:20 PM eastern time. The house was demolished as the plane exploded immediately upon impact. Officials speculate 49 people (48 passengers and crew plus another from the ground) have been killed in the plane crash in Clarence NY.

Who? 48 passengers aboard Continental Airlines flight 3407 plus another person on the ground were killed. It is reported by the Buffalo newspaper that Beverly Eckert, widow of Shawn Rooney who died in the 9-11 crashes, was aboard the flight. Members of the home on which the plane crashed were safely evacuated. However, it is reported that two females living in the neighborhood are in critical condition at a local hospital. The flight was operated by Colgan Air based out of Virginia.  

What? Flight 3407 crashed in Clarence Center, NY and has sprung what has been called a "massive fire" in a small neighborhood due to the 5,800 lbs. of jet fuel the plane was carrying.  The crash is the worst plane crash since the Comair incident on August 26, 2006, which also claimed 49 lives. 

One eyewitness, who heard the crash from about three-quarters of a mile away, said the noise 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."

Live reports from Buffalo News showed ambulances leaving the scene empty. A nurse at Erie County Medical Center said the hospital's second shift had been told to stay late to treat survivors. However, they were sent home by midnight because "there were no souls to bring in and treat," she said.

Reports from authorities say that there is not much focus on rescuing lives as much as there is focus on understanding the reason for the crash. 

When? It was reported at 10:20 PM eastern time on Thursday February 12, 2009. 

Where? Connecting from Newark Liberty International Airport to Buffalo Niagara International Airport, the flight came down about 10 miles before the Buffalo airport in Clarence. The plane crash location was in a rather populated neighborhood area, the Long Street Neighborhood, not far from farmland. 

Why? How? At this point, there is little information as to why the plane crashed. Some speculate that the temperature (approximately 30 degrees fahrenheit) in the Buffalo, NY area had some kind of role in the crash. A recent string of warm whether combined with the sudden onset of freezing temperatures is not a good scenario for plane navigation.  By listening to the radio conversation held by the pilots just before the crash, it seemed an abrupt cause directed the crash. There was no kind of stress call recorded by the Buffalo Niagara International Airport control tower. 

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