A US Airways plane has crashed into the Hudson River, just across from the Lincoln Tunnel, near 48th street.
The plane took off from LaGuardia Airport carrying 146 passengers and 5 crew members bound for Charlotte, according to television reports.
Details are still developing, but local television is reporting that the pilot radioed the LaGuardia tower saying that he had collided with a flock of geese and that some had been sucked into one of the plane’s engines. The pilot was trying to turn back to the airport but apparently decided that he could not keep the plane airborne long enough and opted to set the plane down into the river.
The crash happened at 3:26 p.m. The flight number was US Airways 1549.
The plane is not submerged, and local television pictures show flight crew evacuating the plane via life rafts that are being steered to nearby ferries, which have surrounded the plane.
So far there are no causalities being reported.
Update: Passengers on the flight reported to MSNBC that everyone was able to get off the plane. It is currently being towed towards land.