Is it happening again?

* American Airlines Flight 587 crashes on takeoff at 9:17 a.m. EST in the Rockaway section of the New York City borough of Queens, about five miles from Kennedy Airport

* FAA: Airbus A300 from JFK airport to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

* NYC Port Authority: 246 passengers, 9 crew

* NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani said there were two crash sites – one where the plane landed and another where an engine landed; 12 buildings affected, at least four buildings on fire

* Firefighter reports engine fell from plane, others report explosion

* NYC area airports closed, bridges and tunnels leading into city were closed; traffic leaving New York resumed; JFK airport opened for arrivals only

* New York Fire Department dispatches 44 trucks, 200 firefighters

* The Pentagon said surveillance flights in the area; no unusual activity reported

* The crash affected both national and international air traffic, with flights diverted and grounded

* UN went into partial lockdown after the crash, as it is holding the high-level General Assembly debate

* New York’s Empire State Building evacuated as precaution

* FBI suspects explosion aboard plane before crash

Romanian Premier Adrian Nastase left the debates for the 2002 budget draft, saying that a plane had crashed in the Queens district of New York.

During the speech delivered by an MP, Nastase interrupted the session telling Senators and Deputies that he was leaving Finance minister Mihai Tanasescu in his place, since he had to leave the session because a plane had crashed in Queens, possibly due to a terrorist attack.

At edition’s close, a Tarom flight was on its way to the U.S. and was due to land on JFK airport around 21:00, Bucharest time.

Company manager Nicolae Demetriade said that Tarom was waiting for the decision of the NYC Port Authority on closing NYC airports, which was to direct the Romanian flight to an American airport. Demetriade said that NYC airport would not stay closed for long.

“We must see if this was a terror attack or an accident and, depending on these results and the decisions of U.S. authorities, we will decide whether to maintain Tarom flights to the U.S.,” Demetriade said.