Tragedy In Buffalo

Forty-nine people died late yesterday evening when a Continental Express flight from Newark, N.J. to Buffalo, N.Y. crashed just four miles from the runway at Buffalo Niagara International Airport.

The plane – a 75-seat De Havilland DHC-8-400 Dash 8 – crashed into a house just five minutes before it was scheduled to land, killing all 48 people on board and one person on the ground.

The tragedy marks the first fatal accident involving scheduled carrier flight in the United States since August of 2006, when a Com Air plane in Kentucky went down, also killing 49.

The crash comes less than a month after 155 passengers and crew survived a potential disaster in New York when an Airbus A320 bound for Charlotte, N.C., struck a flock of birds during takeoff and had to land in the Hudson River.

Two survivors of the “Miracle on the Hudson” from Gaffney, S.C. were accompanied to the State House just this week by Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler, where they greeted lawmakers and spoke with reporters.

We’re grateful for their safety, and we hope you’ll join us in extending your thoughts and prayers to everyone affected by this tragedy …