Terrorism is unlikely to be the cause for the New York air crash.

An American Airlines Airbus A300 jet crashed in the New York suburb of Queens at 9.15AM EST today with up to 246 passengers and nine crew were on board.

The plane had taken off from John F. Kennedy airport, less than ten miles away, and crashed into buildings, according to eyewitness reports. According to reports 12 buildings are on fire in the Newport Avenue area of Queens.

Casualties on the ground and the cause of the crash are not yet known.

If you are having trouble getting access to the BBC or the American news sites, try Ananova.com, which carries rolling reports from the Press Association. ®