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Breaking: Plane Crashes In Hudson River

All 155 people aboard a US Airways flight leaving New York-LaGuardia Airport were rescued safely after the plane plunged into the Hudson River this afternoon.

The Coast Guard and river ferries, including the tourist friendly Circle Line cruise boats, responded immediately to toss life jackets to the survivors and, if needed, pull them out of the frigid waters off Manhattan's West 48th Street.

Just after takeoff, US Airways Flight 1549 bound for Charlotte, North Carolina (carrying 150 passengers and 5 crew members) hit a flock of geese that disabled two engines, according to the Associated Press. The plane was ordered to turn around and go back to LGA before the water landing, but the pilot may have been trying to land at Teterboro at the time, says ABC News. A witness told CNN the Airbus A320, which can carry about 179 passengers plus crew, approached the water slowly but made a big splash. Passenger Alberto Panero reported to CNN via cell phone that the pilot's last words before landing were "Prepare for impact."

Initial incomplete reports compared today's disaster to the Air Florida Flight 90 crash in 1982, in which a Boeing 737-222 taking off from Washington National in a snowstorm hit a highway bridge and plunged into the Potomac. After flurries this morning, conditions in the New York area cleared up in the afternoon but temperatures hovered in the mid-20s.

People seeking information about the crash should call US Airways at 1-800-679-8215. Family in the area can go to the emergency response center set up by US Airways at the Crowne Plaza Hotel LaGuardia, 104-04 Ditmars Blvd. in Queens.

Related Stories:
· Plane Crashes Into Hudson [NBC News]
· Plane Crash-Lands In Hudson River [AP via NJ Star-Ledger]
· Plane Crash Into Hudson River [Gothamist]

[Photo via Janis Krums]