March 23 (Reuters) – An Air Canada Express regional jet collided with a ground vehicle while landing at New York’s LaGuardia Airport late on Sunday, shutting down the airport, according to flight tracking website Flightradar24.
The CRJ-900 plane taking off from Montreal struck the vehicle at about 24 miles per hour (39 kilometers per hour), according to Flightradar24, which last recorded data at 11:37pm ET (0337GMT).
Photos taken by Reuters after the accident showed obvious damage to the nose of the plane, which tilted upward.
NBC News, citing sources, reported that the incident involved a fire truck driven by police and injured four people. The pilot and co-pilot of the plane were seriously injured, and a sergeant and an officer suffered broken limbs and are currently in stable condition in hospital, the report said.
Authorities and emergency agencies had no immediate comment on the injuries.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the airport was expected to remain closed until 2 p.m. ET (1800 GMT) on Monday, and LaGuardia’s website showed arriving planes had been diverted to other airports or returned to their point of departure.
The aircraft involved in the incident was operated by Air Canada’s regional partner Jazz, part of Chorus Aviation. Jazz’s CRJ-900 aircraft can seat up to 76 passengers, according to the Air Canada website. NBC News reported that there were 76 passengers and four crew members on board.
Air Canada, Chorus Aviation, the National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The FDNY said it was responding to an incident involving an aircraft and a vehicle on Runway 4 at LaGuardia Airport and directed further inquiries to Port Authority police, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
New York City’s emergency notification system says people may experience flight cancellations, road closures, traffic delays and the presence of emergency personnel near the airport.
According to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, LaGuardia Airport will handle more than 30 million passengers annually by 2025, and many U.S. airlines operate from the airport.
(Reporting by Gusimran Kaul in Bengaluru and David Shepherdson in Washington; Editing by Jamie Freed)
