US police reported on Monday that an Air Canada aircraft collided with a fire truck on a runway at New York’s LaGuardia airport, killing two pilots and injuring dozens more.
The Bombardier plane was left tipped back onto its tail, its cockpit crushed, near to the wrecked emergency vehicle in the late Sunday incident that stopped flights at LaGuardia, a major transportation hub.
The airport announced that flights had resumed around 2:00 pm (1800 GMT) on Monday, but advised passengers to still anticipate delays and cancellations.
With the help of their Canadian counterparts, US aviation inspectors launched an investigation into what seemed to be LaGuardia’s first deadly accident since 1992.
An audio recording from the air traffic tower showed that a controller had cleared the truck, which was responding to a separate incident, to cross the runway before urgently ordering it to halt.
“Stop, truck one, stop!” the controller said moments before the collision. An alarm was then heard.
Surveillance footage shared by US media captured the moment the plane smashed into the rescue vehicle as it crossed its path, sending both hurtling down the runway.
The pilot and co-pilot were killed in the crash, officials said.
“These were two young men at the start of their career, so it’s an absolute tragedy that we’re sitting here with their loss,” Bryan Bedford, head of the Federal Aviation Administration, told reporters.
According to Kathryn Garcia, the head of the city’s Port Authority, over 40 additional persons were admitted to the hospital, although majority of them were released by Monday afternoon.
The two personnel in the damaged fire vehicle were anticipated to make a full recovery, she continued.
The CRJ-900 aircraft was flown into LaGuardia from Montreal as Flight 8646, according to Jazz Aviation, an Air Canada regional partner.
Four crew members were among the 76 passengers on the aircraft, according to a preliminary passenger list, according to a statement from Jazz Aviation.
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