{"id":559792,"date":"2026-03-23T21:51:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T21:51:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/559792\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T21:51:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T21:51:14","slug":"air-canada-fatal-plane-crash-at-new-yorks-laguardia-airport-leaves-two-dead-and-dozens-injured","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/559792\/","title":{"rendered":"Air Canada fatal plane crash at New York’s LaGuardia Airport leaves two dead and dozens injured"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Air Canada jet was carrying more than 70 passengers when it crashed at New York<\/a>‘s LaGuardia Airport about 11.40pm on Sunday (2.40pm Monday AEDT).<\/p>\n

The impact severed the cockpit, and hurled a flight attendant \u2014 still secured to her seat \u2014 far from the site of the crash, her daughter told a Canadian TV station. The flight attendant survived.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Emergency workers pick through the debris from the destroyed Air Canada jet. (AP)<\/p>\n

The fire truck was crossing the tarmac just before midnight after being given permission to check on another plane reporting an odour onboard.<\/p>\n

Before the collision, an air traffic controller can be heard on airport communications frantically telling the fire truck to stop.<\/p>\n

Roughly 20 minutes later, the controller appears to blame himself. “We were dealing with an emergency earlier,” the controller said. “I messed up.”<\/p>\n

Port Authority executive director Kathryn Garcia confirmed the deaths, adding that 41 passengers and two workers in the fire truck were taken to hospital.<\/p>\n

She said 32 people had been released but some of those still in hospital were seriously injured. The Port Authority workers were in a stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries.<\/p>\n

Garcia deflected all questions about air traffic controller instructions and staffing to the National Transportation Safety Board, which launched an investigation.<\/p>\n

Flights have today resumed with just one of two runways open and lengthy delays. The shutdown was causing some disruptions at other airports, too, especially for Delta, which has a major presence at LaGuardia.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/The wreckage of the fire truck that collided with the plane has been cordoned off as part of the investigation. (Bloomberg)<\/p>\n

Garcia said the fire truck had been responding to another incident after “a pilot who had had multiple attempts at takeoff requested support”.<\/p>\n

“The procedure always is in deference to the control tower,” she said, when asked about the procedure in such situations.<\/p>\n

“Any time anyone is moving on any of our runways or taxiways, they have to get clearance from the tower to move on our runways and our taxiways.”<\/p>\n

Passengers says they helped each other escape the plane<\/p>\n

The collision left cables and debris dangling from the mangled cockpit. Images showed the fire truck flipped onto its side, with most of the damage to its back half.<\/p>\n

Flight attendant Solange Tremblay suffered multiple fractures to one leg and will need surgery after being thrown from the plane, daughter Sarah L\u00e9pine told Canadian news station TVA Nouvelles.<\/p>\n

Her survival is “a total miracle,” L\u00e9pine said. “I’m still trying to understand how all this happened, but she definitely has a guardian angel watching over her.”<\/p>\n

Passenger Rebecca Liquori said the plane hit turbulence while descending, and she then felt it brake hard and heard a loud boom.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/An Air Canada Jet sits on the runway at LaGuardia Airport, Monday, March 23, 2026, after colliding with a Port Authority vehicle in New York. (AP Photo\/Ryan Murphy)\"\"\/Firetrucks line up outside LaGuardia Airport, on Monday. (AP Photo\/Ryan Murphy)<\/p>\n

“Everybody just jolted out of their seats. People hit their heads. People were bleeding,” Liquori told News12 Long Island, a station where she once worked.<\/p>\n

Liquori, who said she helped open the emergency exit door, recalled passengers helping each other slide down a wing to get out.<\/p>\n

“I’m just happy to be alive,” said Liquori, who had gone to Montreal for a cousin’s baby shower. “I would have never pictured a one-hour flight that I’ve done countless times \u2026 ending like this.”<\/p>\n

The air traffic controller tried to warn the fire truck.<\/p>\n

“Stop, stop, stop, Truck 1. Stop, stop, stop,” the transmission says. “Stop, Truck 1.” The controller can then be heard frantically diverting an incoming aircraft from landing.<\/p>\n

Air traffic controllers are not impacted by the partial government shutdown that has caused long delays at airport security checkpoints in recent days. They have been affected by past shutdowns.<\/p>\n

Aviation authorities are conducting a full investigation into the crash.\ufeff<\/p>\n

– Reported with Associated Press\ufeff<\/p>\n

NEVER MISS A STORY: Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Air Canada jet was carrying more than 70 passengers when it crashed at New York‘s LaGuardia Airport…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":559793,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-559792","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=559792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/559793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=559792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=559792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}