Captured on Camera: The Moment an Air Canada Flight Smashed into a Fire Truck, Killing 2 and Injuring Dozens | WATCH
Two pilots are dead and dozens of passengers have been rushed to hospitals after an Air Canada Express flight collided with a fire truck during its landing at LaGuardia Airport.
A horrific aviation accident has claimed the lives of two pilots and left dozens of people injured at New York’s LaGuardia Airport. Late Sunday night, an Air Canada Express flight arriving from Montreal struck a Port Authority fire truck that was crossing the runway to respond to a separate emergency. The collision, which occurred at high speed, resulted in the deaths of the aircraft's captain and first officer, both of whom were based in Canada. The impact caused significant damage to the nose of the Bombardier CRJ-900 jet and left several passengers and firefighters with serious injuries.
Disaster on Runway 4
The incident took place at approximately 11:40 p.m. as Flight 8646, operated by Jazz Aviation, touched down on Runway 4. At the same time, a Port Authority Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting vehicle was cleared to cross the runway to attend to a United Airlines flight that had reported a strange odor. Audio recordings from air traffic control reveal a frantic final few seconds, with a controller shouting, "Stop, Truck 1, stop!" before the impact occurred. The jet, which was carrying 72 passengers and four crew members, reportedly struck the vehicle at speeds between 24 and 100 miles per hour, depending on the stage of its landing roll.
Emergency protocols were immediately activated as the nose of the plane was crushed and tilted upward toward the sky, exposing a tangle of wires and flight controls in the cockpit. Forty-one people, including passengers, flight attendants, and the two officers inside the fire truck, were transported to area hospitals. While 32 individuals have since been released, nine remain hospitalized with serious injuries, including broken limbs. The airport remained closed throughout much of Monday as the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) launched an investigation into the communication failure that led to a rescue vehicle and a landing aircraft occupying the same runway simultaneously. U.S. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney both issued statements expressing their condolences, with Trump describing the incident as a "terrible mistake" in a dangerous business.