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NEWS: Plane crashes into Pirelli Building, Milan

We're The Great Old Ones Now

16:33 / 18.04.02

First thoughts link this with Sept 11. The Pirelli Building is 400ft tall and at the centre of Milan, the Italian city named by the US as the European centre of the Bin Laden network.

Currently opinion suggests a tragic accident.

Obvious news sources apply.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

16:52 / 18.04.02

From what I heard on the radio (radio 4, six o'clock news) accident seems most likely- one confirmed dead. But that was a while back- breaking news has a habit of changing as people find out more.
Witnesses (or a witness, at least) reported it was on fire before it hit- ATC are saying the pilot said he'd lost control. Accident seems probable, and, let's face it, more desirable. (or let me rephrase that- less UNdesirable).

16:53 / 18.04.02

CNN says:

A small plane has hit Milan's tallest skyscraper, setting the top floors of the 32-storey building on fire and killing at least three people.

Interior Minister Claudio Scajola said it appeared to be an accident. Italian police said the plane was carrying no one but the pilot, and radio reports said he was killed.

Thirty to 40 people from the 127-metre-high tower in the centre of the city were hospitalised with injuries, mostly broken arms and legs, a reporter on the scene told CNN.

Several witnesses said they saw flames coming from the plane before it hit, according to Italian radio.

and

The pilot was described as between 65 and 75 years of age, and was known to people at Locarno Airport.

The building is known as the Pirelli building but the Italian tyre and cable company does not operate out of the building.

The Pirelli skyscraper, located near the central train station, is one of the world's tallest concrete buildings. It is about 415 feet high and 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.

16:55 / 18.04.02

Yeah, latest news (an SOS call before the crash, among other things) certainly seems to suggest this is an accident, although everyone is understandably twitchy about it, especially as the pirelli building is an improtant Government office in Italy.

I fucking hope so, but it's still a little early to call.

But still, stocks are already falling worldwide, Berlusconi is apparently returning from Bulgaria for a crisis meeting, and one senator has already released and then retracted a statement suggesting it was a terrorist attack (I think he was probably a little quick off the mark to get himself into Corriere del Serra (or however you spell it)

News here (BBC)

I'll give it a day before the first conspiracy theories on this start.

21:53 / 18.04.02

Milan, the Italian city named by the US as the European centre of the Bin Laden network.

Does anyone else find it strange the growing membership of Al-Queda? Last August, I'm sure you couldn't find the bastards, and they didnt number more than a few hundred, hence why they were still around. Now the papers have headlines like "British Marines face 20,000 Al-Queda fighters". The European Centre of the Bin Laden network? Do they have offices in the building in question?

We're The Great Old Ones Now

07:02 / 19.04.02

Hey, I just report it as I hear it. Milan University, I think, was identified as a centre of extreme Islam. By current standards, that probably means there is a large body of Islamic students who don't approve of the attack on Afghanistan.

Okayk, so this looks to have been an accident. In a way, that could be worse. Act of God, anyone?