Pilot and co-pilot killed after Air Canada jet collision at LaGuardia New York | New York

The pilot and co-pilot of an Air Canada Express regional jet died after colliding with a fire truck while landing at New York’s LaGuardia airport late Sunday in an incident that closed the airport.

NBC News, which reported the deaths, said dozens of people were also injured in the incident.

The fire truck was operated by police officers, the news channel said, quoting sources. It was previously said that a sergeant and an officer had broken limbs and were in stable condition in hospital.

The Air Canada Express CRJ-900 aircraft, operated by partner Jazz Aviation, was carrying 72 passengers and four crew from Montreal, according to a preliminary passenger list that needed to be confirmed. Jazz is owned by Chorus Aviation.

Flightradar24, a flight tracking site that last recorded data at 11:37 p.m., said the plane hit the fire truck at about 24 mph.

Photographs taken by Reuters after the accident show that the nose of the plane, which was tilted upwards, was damaged.

Authorities and emergency agencies had no immediate comment on deaths or injuries.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the airport is expected to remain closed until 2pm on Monday. Flightradar24 said 18 flights were mostly diverted to other airports in the New York area or returned to their point of origin.

Air Canada said it was aware of the incident, referring Reuters to Jazz’s statement. The National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said its fire truck responded to a separate incident when a plane crashed on runway 4 at LaGuardia.

New York City’s emergency notification system said people could expect cancellations, road closures, traffic delays and emergency personnel near the airport.