紐約時間10月11日下午3時左右，一架小型單引擎飛機撞上紐約曼哈頓城緊靠東河的一幢50層的公寓大樓，飛機完全損壞，大樓燃起大火冒出濃煙。警方稱，飛機屬于紐約揚基棒球隊擲球手科瑞·利德勒所有，他和另外一人可能在這次事故中喪生。美國官員稱，這起事件只是普通的事故，沒有跡象證明是恐怖主義襲擊。不過在撞樓事件發生后，美國北美防空司令下令戰斗機起飛在各大城市上空巡邏，此外，美國聯邦航空管理局也暫時對事故附近實施飛行禁令。

Debris falls from an apartment building on New York's Upper East Side after a small plane with New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle aboard crashed into it Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2006. [AP] At least two people were killed when a small aircraft crashed into a 52-story building on Manhattan's Upper East Side on Wednesday in what appeared to be an accident, officials said. The four-seat plane was owned by Yankees baseball pitcher Cory Lidle, sources at the New York police department told Reuters. The FAA confirmed the plane was owned by Lidle, 34. CNN said the pilot of the plane was Lidle and he was believed to have been killed. U.S. and New York officials said they had no reason to believe the crash, which occurred in overcast weather, was related to terrorism. A New York police department spokeswoman said the crash killed two people and possibly more. Military fighter jets patrolled several U.S. cities as a precaution, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said. "NORAD fighters are airborne over numerous cities. They are airborne now as a prudent measure," said NORAD spokeswoman Kyle Combs. She did not say which cities were being patrolled, or how many, but added the fighters were sent up right after the plane crashed into the building. On Wall Street, U.S. stocks extended losses but quickly recovered once it became clear the crash was not an attack similar to the hijacked plane attacks of September 11, 2001. "We have no reason to believe at this point that it is terrorist related," said New York City Police Chief Michael Collins. Kathy Robinson, a spokeswoman for New York Presbyterian hospital said the facility had taken in one dead person and nine injured people in its emergency room. The plane took off from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, just miles from Manhattan, a Port Authority of New York and New Jersey spokesman told Reuters, adding he did not know how many people were on board. The aircraft crashed at East 72nd St. and York Avenue, near the East River, a 1980s building housing mainly upscale residential apartments but which also has a specialized hospital on the bottom 12 floors. (Agencies)

Vocabulary:

overcast: 烏云覆蓋的 Military fighter jets: 軍事戰斗機 patrol: 巡邏 upscale residential apartments：高消費階層居住公寓 （英語點津陳蓓編輯）