9/11 widow is killed in air disaster
THE widow of a 9/11 victim was among at least 50 people killed in the New York state plane crash, it emerged yesterday.
Beverly Eckert had become an outspoken anti-terror campaigner after losing husband Sean Rooney in the Twin Towers outrage.
Just last week, she met President Barack Obama at the White House to discuss anti-terror measures.
Mrs Eckert was said by relatives to have died when Continental Airlines Flight 3407 plunged to the ground in the early hours of yesterday.
Witnesses said the propeller powered plane simply "fell out of the sky" as it made its way from New York to Buffalo in freezing rain.
Mrs Eckert, 50, had caught the nation's hearts by telling how her husband called to express his love for her just as the tower was hit.
Friends said she was on her way to mark what would have been his 58th birthday when her plane went down.
President Obama led the tributes to her yesterday. He said: "Beverly lost her husband on 9/11 and became a tireless advocate for those families whose lives were forever changed on that September day. She was an inspiration to me and many others, and I pray that her family finds peace and comfort in the hard days ahead."
Speaking in Washington, he added: "Tragic events such as these remind us of the fragility of life, and the value of every single day. One person who understood that well was Beverly Eckert, who was on that flight, and who I met with just a few days ago."
All 44 passengers, five crew and at least one person on the ground were killed when the flight came down in Buffalo and exploded in flames.
Witnesses reported hearing the screams and cries of people engulfed in the fireball but were unable to save them.
The internal commuter plane, heading from Newark airport, New Jersey, crashed 10 miles from Buffalo airport at around 3.30am - or 10.20pm local time. Emergency services fought to contain the flames for more than four hours after the plane came down.
Twelve homes were evacuated.
According to witnesses, the house hit by the aircraft was flattened. Two occupants, Karen Wielinski, 57, and her daughter, Jill, 22, escaped with minor injuries but a man in the building is thought to have died.
The FBI said there was no reason to suspect terrorist involvement.
Experts believe ice building up on the wings and the propellor is the most likely cause of the accident.
However, safety concerns have been raised in the past about the type of plane involved - a Canadian-built Bombardier Dash 8 Q400.
Scandinavian airline SAS pulled its fleet of Bombardiers out of service after two planes were written off in landing accidents.
However, the plane was backed yesterday by independent aviation commentators and British airline Flybe, which has a fleet of 49 Dash 8 Q400s - the world's largest.
Yesterday it said staff had spoken to air safety watchdog the Civil Aviation Authority and had been told the plane was safe to "operate as normal".
A spokesman said: "Flybe can confirm that its Q400 fleet has flown more than a third of a million flights without any serious incident."
