Florida: Tanker crash kills 2, threatens overpass

A gasoline tank truck overturned Sunday and struck a retaining wall on an overpass in Orlando, bursting into flame and hurling chunks of concrete into the path of traffic below, the Highway Patrol said. Two people were killed, and five were injured.

The heat of the fire damaged the 30-foot-high overpass and engineers were concerned that it was in danger of collapsing, said Highway Patrol Lt. Eddie Herrell.

The overpass will be closed 45 to 60 days for repairs, he said.

The truck rolled over and struck the retaining wall on a curving toll road onramp that leads onto Interstate 4.

The two people who were killed were passengers in an SUV that went out of control when the falling chunks of concrete caused drivers to slam on their brakes and swerve, Herrell said.

Cincinnati: Pilot refuses to fly with Israeli passenger

A pilot for a Delta Air Lines subsidiary would not fly Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Melchior from Cincinnati to Toronto because the pilot thought Melchior posed a security risk, an Israeli radio station reported Sunday.

Melchior, who was being escorted by State Department officials, told Israel Radio that he waited on the plane Friday for more than an hour before the pilot evacuated it, saying there was a security risk.

When Melchior disembarked, he said he was told he was not allowed to get back on the plane.

“The security officials and the company all put pressure on him, and there were negotiations,” Melchior told the station. “But the pilot is sovereign on his aircraft, and he is empowered to make such a decision, and he did it in spite of all the pressure from the company and security officials.”

This is the third time an Israeli official has been pulled from a flight because of a pilot’s sense of a security risk, the radio station reported. The others reportedly were Alon Pinkas, the Israeli consul general in New York, and a bodyguard of Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.

Florida: Travel industry seeks national tourism agency

The United States is losing tourism dollars by not adequately marketing itself overseas, says a top industry official who is pushing for a national tourism agency.

Setting up a tourism marketing corporation would go a long way in restoring the industry in the United States, said William Norman, head of the Travel Industry Assn., in a speech planned for today in Orlando.

The United States is the only major industrialized nation in the world whose government doesn’t directly spend money on marketing tourism abroad.

Leaders of the United States’ $546 billion tourism industry plan to ask Congress this fall to create a national tourism marketing corporation, Norman said in an advance copy of the speech he plans to give at the Florida Governor’s Conference on Tourism. International travel to the United States is a $103 billion-a-year market.

New York City: Madrid-bound jet reports engine fire

An engine fire Sunday forced an Iberia Airlines 747 jet to return to John F. Kennedy Airport shortly after takeoff, authorities said.

Pilots turned the plane around when a fire warning light came on, said Arlene Salac, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration.

All 386 passengers and crew were evacuated from the plane after it landed about 7:20 p.m., Salac said. Four people were taken to Jamaica Hospital with minor bumps and bruises sustained in the evacuation.

Salac said the fire was contained to the engine.