A passenger plane has crashed into a home near Buffalo airport in upstate New York, United States, killing 50 people.
The Continental Airlines Flight 3407 was on its final approach to Buffalo Niagara International Airport from Newark, New Jersey.
The plane, a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400, struck a house a few miles from the airport and crashed at 10:17pm local time in Clarence, Erie County.
The plane was carrying over 2.5 tonnes of fuel and burst into a fireball on impact.
All 44 passengers and five crew on board the plane were killed, as well as one person on the ground, the Federal Aviation Administration and local officials said.
A widow whose husband was killed in the September 11 attacks is among the dead, her family said.
It is not yet known what caused the crash.
Investigators are not yet able to access the scene as it is still too hot, a fire service spokesman said.
The crew of captain Marvin Renslow, first officer Rebecca Shaw, flight attendants Matilda Quintero and Donna Prisco and off-duty crew member captain Joseph Zuffoletto died in the crash, an airline spokesman said.
The flight's passenger list will be released once all the families of those killed have been contacted.
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama have said they are "deeply saddened" by the incident.
The President said: "We pray for all those who have been touched by this terrible tragedy to find peace and comfort in the hard days ahead."
No problems were reported from the flight deck in the final communication with local air traffic control, just seconds before the crash.
"I was told the plane simply dropped off the radar screen," a county official said.
A local fire service spokesman said crews had done a "first class job" tackling the blaze, although one firefighter had suffered minor injuries.
He said: "It's remarkable that (the plane) only took one house... It could easily have wiped out that entire neighbourhood."
A woman and child escaped the crash scene with minor injuries, an official added.
Local resident Keith Burtis, who was outside at the time of the crash, told Sky News he could feel the impact more than he could see it.
He said: "I was three quarters of a mile away, outside, you could hear the aircraft whistling.
"You could feel the ground shake and within minutes there was smoke in the sky and an orange glow.
"At this point the fire is still going - they're working to put it out."
He said the weather in Buffalo had been very poor, with heavy rain that had turned to snow during the evening.
Clarence resident Christopher Kausner told Sky News he was waiting for official confirmation that his sister was one of the passengers who had been killed.
"She was in law school, 24 years old. She was flying home to spend time with her family for the weekend.
"We don't have any official confirmation - all I'm going on is news reports I'm getting.
"The people I'm hearing on the radio are almost all people I know. It's a small, tight-knit community."
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