A plane carrying over 70 people collided with a fire truck on a runway at New York’s LaGuardia airport on Sunday night, killing the pilot and co-pilot and forcing a halt to flights.
Pictures showed the heavily damaged nose and cockpit section of the Air Canada Express plane, which had arrived from Montreal, on the tarmac flanked by emergency vehicles with their lights flashing.
The pilot and co-pilot were killed in the collision, while another 13 people, including 11 passengers and two first responders, were taken to the hospital with injuries.
The aircraft operated by Jazz Aviation, a regional partner of Air Canada, struck a firefighting truck on Runway 4 at about 11:40 p.m. on Sunday (0340 GMT Monday) as the vehicle drove to a separate incident, New York’s port authority said.
A preliminary passenger list showed 76 people on board, including four crew members, Jazz Aviation said in a statement.
US aviation authorities ordered all flights at the airport to be grounded, adding there was a “high” likelihood of an extended suspension.
“The airport is currently closed to facilitate the response and allow for a thorough investigation,” the port authority said in a statement to AFP.
It added that emergency response protocols had been “immediately activated.”
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The National Transportation Safety Board said it had sent a “go team” to the scene to investigate the collision.
Located in the New York borough of Queens, LaGuardia is New York’s third-busiest airport, serving 33.5 million passengers in 2024, according to port authority figures.
It completed an $8 billion redevelopment in 2024, upgrading its aging infrastructure with new terminals and roadways.
Deadly air crashes in the United States in recent years include a collision between a passenger jet and an army helicopter near Washington in January 2025 that killed 67 people.
Other incidents and close calls have taken place while aircraft were on the ground.
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