Two persons have been confirmed dead after an Air Canada Express jet arriving from Montreal collided with a ground vehicle late Sunday night at LaGuardia Airport.
The aircraft, a Bombardier CRJ-900 operated by Jazz Aviation on behalf of Air Canada, struck a Port Authority fire truck while landing on the runway. The plane was carrying 72 passengers and four crew members at the time of the incident, and the collision occurred at a relatively low speed of about 24 mph.
Tragically, both the pilot and co-pilot were killed in the crash, while several passengers and first responders sustained injuries. Reports indicate that the fire truck had been responding to a separate emergency and had been cleared to cross the runway shortly before the aircraft touched down. Air traffic control recordings suggest last-minute attempts were made to halt the vehicle before the collision, raising urgent questions about runway coordination and communication failures.
The incident led to a full closure of LaGuardia Airport, with flights grounded, diverted, or canceled as emergency crews secured the scene. The disruption rippled across the wider New York airspace, affecting thousands of travelers and highlighting the vulnerability of even major aviation systems to sudden operational breakdowns. Authorities, including the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board, have launched investigations to determine exactly how the collision occurred and whether procedural lapses were involved.
As investigators work to piece together the sequence of events, the focus will remain on preventing similar tragedies and ensuring that safety systems keep pace with the increasing complexity of modern air traffic.
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