The pilot and co-pilot were killed after the collision of Air Canada Express with a fire truck in New York. Following the incident, the LaGuardia Airport was shut down on Sunday. Dozens of people got injured in the crash. A flight attendant was thrown off from the plane while her seat still strapped to her seat. Both Canadian and American agencies are investigating the accident. The crash marks the first deaths at LaGuardia, the New York area’s third busiest airport, in 34-years. The airport soon started its operations on Monday, after hundreds of flights were cancelled at the airport on Sunday. As per reports, runway 4 will remain closed until 7 a.m. Friday.
The Air Canada flight 8646 took off from the Montreal-Trudeau International Airport after 10.30 pm Sunday night. The plane was supposed to land at the LaGuardia airport around 11.35 pm with four crew members. The fire truck, meanwhile, was on its way to help another plane that had reported an emergency landing on the other side of the airport. The fire truck asked for permission to cross the runway where the Air Canada aircraft was landing to respond to the United flight. Just 10 seconds after granting permission to the fire truck, the controller seemed to reverse the order told it to stop. But it was too late to handle the situation and the collision took place around 11.38 pm, minutes after it was about to land.
More than 23 people have been hospitalized following the incident. The two firefighters in the truck were hospitalized and would soon be released after treatment. The flight attendant who survived the crash was identified as Solange Tremblay by her daughter Sarah Lépine.
