FBI rules out terrorism in Seattle plane crash
Washington, Aug 12 : The airline employee who stole a plane on Friday in Seattle and crashed soon afterward did not have any links to terrorist organizations and was seeking to commit suicide, the FBI said on Saturday.
The FBI said via Twitter that "the information gathered thus far does NOT suggest a terrorist threat".
The Pierce County Sheriff's Department previously said that preliminary investigations suggested that the 29-year-old man who stole the plane was suicidal and had crashed because he was "doing stunts in air" or because of a "lack of flying skills", Efe reported.
The man, who worked for an airline at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, stole an empty 76-seat plane Friday night belonging to Horizon Air, a subsidiary of Alaska Airlines, and took off without authorization.
Soon afterward, the North American Aerospace Defense Command launched two F-15 fighter jets to pursue the stolen plane, which crashed on Ketron Island, between Tacoma and Olympia, after performing air stunts.
According to White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders, US president Donald Trump had been informed on the incident and was monitoring the situation from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
"Federal authorities are assisting with the ongoing investigation which is being led by local authorities. We commend the interagency response effort for their swift action and protection of public safety," Sanders said in a statement.
While the incident was taking place, no plane was allowed to take off from Seattle-Tacoma, which is ranked the ninth busiest airport in the United States, serving 46.9 million passengers in 2017.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
