A catastrophic runway collision at New York’s LaGuardia Airport has resulted in multiple casualties and widespread disruption, following the impact of an Air Canada flight with an emergency vehicle during landing procedures on Sunday night.
Eyewitness accounts from passengers aboard AC8646 from Montreal describe moments of terror as the aircraft encountered severe turbulence during descent before making violent contact with a fire truck on the tarmac. The impact occurred at 23:40 local time (03:40 GMT Monday), immediately claiming the lives of two pilots and sending 41 individuals to area hospitals with injuries ranging from moderate to critical.
Audio recordings from LaGuardia’s control tower reveal air traffic controllers urgently issuing commands of ‘Stop, stop, stop!’ in the final seconds before impact. Preliminary investigations indicate the emergency vehicle had been dispatched minutes earlier to address a separate odor-related incident aboard another aircraft.
Passenger Rebecca Liquori recounted to News12 Long Island: ‘We landed very roughly… then came a tremendous boom that threw everyone from their seats.’ The subsequent evacuation saw travelers assisting one another via the aircraft’s wings to safety amidst scenes of chaos and confusion.
Leo Medina, a passenger on a nearby aircraft, witnessed the immediate aftermath: ‘The plane appeared severed in half from our vantage point just 100 meters away.’ The incident has triggered extensive flight cancellations and delays at one of America’s busiest aviation hubs, stranding thousands of travelers including Katie Rojas who noted: ‘The randomness of such events is truly frightening.’
Federal aviation authorities have launched a comprehensive investigation into the circumstances surrounding the collision, while airport operations remain partially suspended during evidence collection and cleanup operations.