The Pirelli Building in downtown Milan. Partially occupied by the Lombardi regional government, but at that hour (about 6:00 p.m.) the offices should have been empty, but the streets were fairly crowded. The plane hit the 24th and 25th floors of the 30 story building. The plane (no general agreement as to whether it was a Cessna or a Piper or just an unidentified small, single engine, low-wing aircraft) had been circling the area, and some witnesses said that they thought they saw flames. The pilot radioed an SOS, said he was having engine trouble and was having trouble getting his landing gear down. Presumably he planned to land at a small commercial airfield about seven miles away. Nobody seems to know what happened or why the plane piled into the building.

The Italian government immediately responded that it was a terrorist attack, then backpedaled quickly and are saying that it was probably an accident.

Three known dead, several injuries.

Channel-surfing between CNN and MSNBC.

Don Firth