An Air Canada flight crashed into a rescue truck while landing at LaGuardia Airport in New York City on Sunday night, leaving both the pilot and co-pilot dead, and two Port Authority cops seriously injured, according to sources. The flight, arriving from Montreal, was landing at around 11:40 p.m. when it collided with a Port Authority rescue vehicle on the runway.
Sources told NBC New York that both the pilot and co-pilot lost their lives in the crash, while several others were injured. The Port Authority spokesperson added that the aircraft collided with a rescue vehicle that had been responding to a separate incident at the time of the crash.
Major Tragedy
After the incident, the plane was seen sitting on the tarmac with its nose heavily damaged and the front section tilted upward. The flight was operated by Jazz Aviation, a regional carrier based in Nova Scotia, and was flying on behalf of Air Canada.
"Emergency response protocols were immediately activated. The Port Authority Police Department is on scene along with the agency's Chairman and Executive Director," a Port Authority spokesman said in a statement.
"The Port Authority Police Department is working closely with our airline partners as well as federal authorities, and will provide additional updates as more details become available."
Crews responded to reports of an incident involving an aircraft and a vehicle on Runway 4, the New York Fire Department told the Daily Mail. The aircraft, a Bombardier CRJ-900, was said to be carrying 76 passengers and crew members at the time.
Following the emergency, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop, effectively shutting down LaGuardia Airport around 11:50 p.m. EST.
Photos from the scene showed significant damage, with Port Authority Police working to remove the front section of the plane. The agency's vehicle, involved in the collision, was also seen overturned, while emergency crews rushed onto the runway.
The National Transportation Safety Board has begun investigating the incident.
Crash Amid Chaos Across Airports
Earlier in the evening, LaGuardia had already warned of possible flight disruptions due to bad weather, as New York experienced rain on Sunday night. The incident comes at a time when airports are already under pressure amid an ongoing funding standoff involving the Department of Homeland Security.
LaGuardia is one of several airports currently dealing with disruptions, as workers have been forced to continue their duties without pay and passengers are facing unusually long security lines.
Travelers reported that lines stretched all the way into the parking lot on Sunday morning, with some saying they had to wait as long as three hours.
In response, Donald Trump announced that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would be deployed to airports on Monday to assist TSA officers.
"If the Democrats do not allow for Just and Proper Security at our Airports, and elsewhere throughout our Country, ICE will do the job far better than ever done before!" Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Saturday.
"I look forward to moving ICE in on Monday, and have already told them to,"GET READY." NO MORE WAITING, NO MORE GAMES!"
Border czar Tom Homan said on CNN that he had been working with ICE Director Tedd Lyons and TSA official Ha Nguyen McNeill to finalize the plan to deploy ICE agents to airports.
He added that officials expected to have the details sorted by the end of Sunday, including which airports would be selected for the rollout.
