ABCNEWS.com : Plane Slams Into Milan Skyscraper The Pirelli Building in Milan, Italy, was hit by a small plane. (ABCNEWS.com) 8212; A small plane crashed into the 25th floor of a skyscraper in downtown Milan today. At least three people, including the pilot, were dead, Italy's ANSA wire service said. Dozens of people in the Pirelli building were injured after several floors of the 32-story building caught fire, local reports said. At least 15 were taken to the hospital. Only the pilot was on board the plane, reported The Associated Press. The weather was clear at the time of the crash. The crash happened during rush hour, as office workers were ending their day, so few people were in the building when it happened. The building has since been cleared, and the fire is now under control, reported ABCNEWS' Rome bureau. It damaged the 23rd through the 29th floors, which were being restored and weren't occupied at the time, local reports said. A man who was on the 21st floor at the time the plane hit said the building was evacuated in an orderly fashion. The Pirelli building houses the administrative offices of the local Lombardy region and sits next to the city's central train station. A small tourist plane crashed into the tallest building in Milan. (ABCNEWS.com/Magellan Geographix) The plane was destined for Italy's capital Rome, and departed from Lucerne airport in Switzerland, sources from the National Air Safety board told ANSA. It was the second time since the Sept. 11 terror attacks that a plane has struck a high-rise building, and the crash raised fears of another attack. But local officials now say it was probably an accident. A transport official told Reuters the plane had reported problems with its undercarriage and was circling the city ahead of trying to land at a local airport. Police officer Celerissimo De Simone told The AP the pilot of the aircraft had sent out a distress call at 5:54 p.m. just before crashing. Italian TV said the pilot's SOS involved a technical problem. Police say the plane was an Air Commando 8212; a small plane similar to a Piper. Initial reports described the plane as a Piper, but did not note the specific model. According to ABCNEWS aviation expert John Nance, Piper planes have no history of mechanical troubles or other problems that would lead a pilot to lose control. 'Those aircraft have direct mechanical controls," says Nance. "If you have a control problem, it would be the loss of an engine, and those are either controllable or not." U.S. officials told ABCNEWS they had no indication the crash was a terrorist attack. Neither American nor Italian forces were on heightened alert, they said. The FBI has offered help in the crash investigation, but it remains to be seen if Italy will accept. At his lunchtime press briefing today, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters: "The president just moments ago was informed about the incident in Milan. I have no additional information at all for you at this time. This is a breaking story and we don't have anything else beyond that 8212; the president has been informed." "I think you can presume that we will be 8212; if we are not already 8212; in touch with Italian authorities and will ascertain precisely what the facts are," he said. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was on his way back to Italy from Bulgaria, and a crisis center is being set up. Airspace at the local Linate airport was reportedly cleared, but Milan's Malpensa international airport, further away from the city center, was not affected. On Jan. 5, a 15-year-old boy crashed a stolen plane into a building in Tampa, Fla. He was the only casualty. ABCNEWS' Rome bureau and John McWethy at the Pentagon contributed to this report. April 18 The Pirelli building, struck today by a small airplane, is Milan's tallest building, and is one of the world's highest concrete skyscrapers. Built in the late 1950s, the office building stands 32 stories tall, or about 417 feet, according to the Web site, SkyScraperPage.com. Other sources say the building is 30 stories tall. By comparison, Paris' Eiffel Tower is about twice as tall, and New York's Empire State Building is 102 stories, or 1,455 feet tall. Nevertheless, with its location near the city's central train station and its height relative to the buildings around it, the Pirelli building is considered a landmark and symbol of the commercial city of Milan. The building was designed by the architect Gio Ponti, along with one of Italy's most important 20th-century structural engineers, Pier Luigi Nervi (1891-1979), known for his use of reinforced concrete. Pirelli, the tire and cable company, does not operate out of the Pirelli building. However, the office building houses the government administration of the Lombardy region of Italy. Copyright 2002 ABCNEWS Internet Ventures.