Thursday, February 18, 2010

IRS releases statement on plane crash - Austin Business Journal:

A small plane crashed into an office complex occupied mostly by the local Internal Revenue Service this morning on the 9400 block of Research Boulevard.

"We can confirm a small plane hit a building in Austin, Texas that includes IRS offices in Echelon Building I that houses about 190 IRS employs. We are still in process accounting for all employees and will update as information is available, " the IRS said in a statement.

An investigator from the National Transportation Safety Board%u2019s Arlington field office is traveling this morning to Austin to launch an investigation into the crash. NTSB is reportedly investigating the crash as intentional and said the pilot was Joseph Andrew Stack III. In a note on a social media account with that name the writer claimed to have experience in the accounting world and made multiple references to the IRS.

The city confirmed the Echelon Building at 9430 Research Blvd. was hit. One former Echelon Building tenant that moved out last weekend said the 9430 Research Blvd. complex has five buildings. Contrary to some reports, Federal Bureau of Investigation spokespeople said the building hit does not house any FBI staff, but that an FBI satellite of the San Antonio bureau is located nearby.

The complex%u2019s tenants include St. Edward%u2019s University%u2019s Professional Education Center, Blue Skies Therapy, Management Alliance Corp. and Online Training Academy. St. Edward's spokeswoman Mischelle Diaz said that 75 adult education students and faculty were evacuated, and all have been accounted for. There were 35 employees and 40 students. Classes and meetings have been canceled.

A person from the Houston office of the online training business said they had four workers and about four students in the building and all are OK. Blue Skies Therapy owner Kristi Johnson said the IRS occupies %u201Cmost of the floors%u201D in the building that was hit, but the IRS could not confirm this.

Johnson stayed home today with her six-month-old son and said she has not talked to any one else who works in the office.

%u201CI am getting so many calls in, that I have not been able to call and check in.%u201D she said.

Two victims of the plane crash were admitted and treated at University Medical Center Brackenridge, according to Matilda Sanchez, a spokeswoman for Seton Family of Hospitals.

One person was treated and is in good condition, suffering minor injuries and smoke inhalation. The second patient was treated, stabilized and was sent to San Antonio%u2019s Brooke Army Medical Center to be treated in their special burn unit, Sanchez said.

This story will be updated as news comes in.

Posted via web from Wesley83's Posterous

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