New York: Two pilots were killed after an Air Canada regional jet collided with a fire truck on a runway during landing at New York’s LaGuardia Airport late Sunday night, officials said.
The collision crushed the nose of the aircraft, while 39 passengers and crew members were taken to area hospitals, some with serious injuries. Most have since been released from treatment, authorities said Monday.
Two Port Authority employees who were travelling in the fire truck also suffered injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening, said Kathryn Garcia, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport.
The two deceased individuals were the pilot and copilot of the aircraft. Both were based out of Canada, Garcia said during a news conference early Monday.
The airport remained closed until at least 2 pm Monday to facilitate the investigation, which is being led by the National Transportation Safety Board.
The fire truck was travelling across the runway to respond to a separate incident aboard a United Airlines flight, whose pilot had reported “an issue with odour,” said Garcia, who deferred additional questions about the sequence of events leading up to the crash to the NTSB.
There were 72 passengers and four crew members aboard the aircraft.
Photos and videos from the scene showed severe damage to the front of the aircraft, with cables and debris hanging from a mangled cockpit. Nearby, a damaged emergency vehicle lay on its side.
Stairways used to evacuate passengers from the aircraft were pushed up to the emergency exits on the jet, a Bombardier CRJ. The impact left the jet with its crumpled nose tilted upward.
