NEW YORK, Oct 11: Two persons were killed when a small aeroplane crashed into a 50-story residential building on Manhattan’s East Side on Wednesday, the New York City Fire Department told reporters

A police department spokesman said: “It looked like an accident”, but the authorities were trying to determine the cause.

The plane hit the Belaire Condominiums, near the East River. More than 150 firefighters are on the scene. The plane hit the 36th and 37th floor of the building.

Flames were shooting out from several windows midway up the luxury high-rise in a residential neighbourhood as reporters at the United Nations walked to the location of the crash.

The Federal Aviation Administration described the plane as a “general aviation” fixed-wing aircraft flying under visual flight rules, meaning a pilot was flying by visual landmarks.

North American Aerospace Defence Command told CNN it had put fighter aircraft into the air over numerous United States cities.