MILAN, April 18: A small tourist plane smashed into Milan’s tallest skyscraper on Thursday, killing at least four people and injuring scores in what Italian officials said was an apparent accident, not a re-run of Sept 11.

Transport officials said the pilot reported technical problems shortly before ploughing into the top floors of the 30-storey Pirelli office block and setting it ablaze.

“We heard the sound of propellers as if from a small aircraft and then there was a huge bang. Everything was flying through the air — paper, furniture,” said an office worker.

Italy’s interior ministry said it was probably an accident, scotching initial fears that the crash was a copycat of September’s hijacked airliner suicide attacks in US cities.

“The first information we have points to an accident,” Interior Minister Claudio Scajola said.

But the ghost of Sept 11 sent shockwaves through world financial markets.

Stocks tumbled in Europe and the United States, the euro weakened and gold’s price rose, but the markets calmed down when officials started to indicate it had been an accident.

“We have news of three dead and dozens and dozens of injured,” said Pier Gianni Prosperini, the deputy head of Milan’s regional government.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi headed home from Bulgaria to convene Italy’s crisis unit in response, a spokesman said. US officials said President George W. Bush had been informed.—Reuters