Listen to the control tower recording before crash

A woman whose husband was killed in the September 11, 2001 terror attacks and who became one of the leading US anti-terrorism campaigners was one of 49 people killed when a commuter aircraft crashed in New York state last night.

Beverly Eckert was on the Continental Connection flight 3407 to Buffalo to mark what would have been her husband's 58th birthday when the jet crashed into the affluent suburb of Clarence Center, which is about five miles from its destination.

The 74-seater aircraft, belonging to Colgan Air in Virginia, was on an internal flight from Newark in New Jersey and was trying to land in light snow and fog at 10.20pm (03.20 GMT).

As well as the 44 passengers and four crew one person in the house died. Two people in the house managed to escape.

The cause of the crash is not yet known with audio recordings between the woman co-pilot and control tower operators showing nothing untoward before the transmission suddenly went silent when the flight was at 2,300ft.

Although other pilots near the area were heard to say that conditions were icy, US investigators said that this was not known to have affected aircraft before and the jet was built only last year.

Names of the victims have not yet officially been released but 9/11 family activists disclosed that Ms Eckert was on the flight. The campaigner was at the White House to discuss terrorism policy with President Obama last week.

Ms Eckert captured the imagination of Americans in 2001 when she tearfully described how Sean Rooney, her husband and childhood sweetheart, telephoned from the World Trade Center to express his love when there was a loud explosion and the phone went dead.

She later became part of a group of September 11 widows, mothers and children who lobbied successfully to force US politicians to pass sweeping reforms to the intelligence services in 2004.

President Obama described Ms Eckert today as an inspiration.

“Tragic events such as these remind us of the fragility of life, and the value of every single day. One person who understood that well was Beverly Eckert, who was on that flight, and who I met with just a few days ago,” he said in Washington.

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