A Concorde jet heading for New York crashed shortly take-off near Paris Charles de Gaulle airport on Tuesday, killing around 100 people on board, rescue services said.
Paris firefighters, in charge of the rescue services, said first reports indicated some 100 people were dead.
The Air France supersonic jet crashed in flames into a hotel and restaurant in the town of Gonesse near the airport, emergency services said.
The accident, the first involving a Concorde, happened at 4:45 pm (1445 GMT).
"I saw the Concorde go by with its left side engine on fire and crash a bit further away, about two minutes after taking off," one witness told AFP.
"The plane went very low over the offices, it was trying to get higher but was having a lot of difficulty. It went over the motorway and crashed on the Gonesse town side," added Stephane Prevost, who works for a company near the airport.
Air France has six of the jets and British Airways seven - PARIS (AFP)
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