A United Airlines jet carrying 61 persons plowed through a residential district and crashed, killing at least 42 including Rep. George W. Collins, D. -Ill., while approaching Chicago's Midway Airport yesterday afternoon.
The plane, Flight 553, was due at Midway at 2:31 p.m. but instead crashed through homes in a residential district south of the city. One of the survivors, Marvin Anderson, 43, of Omaha, said, "The last words the pilot said to us were, 'We are at 4,000 feet and everything is going well.' I knew something was wrong a few seconds later because he began to rev the engines." (full interview)
Curtis Vokamer, deputy fire marshal, said his crew found most of the 55 passengers dead in the debris of the Boeing 737. 16 persons, including the plane's three flight attendants, were admitted to Holy Cross Hospital with injuries.
Representative Collins was returning from Washington to "organize a children's Christmas party."
The National Transportation Safety Board in Washington immediately dispatched an investigative team to Chicago. "We'll look into this thoroughly,"an official was quoted.
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National Transportation Safety Board website
United Airlines website
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