Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Monday that New York’s LaGuardia Airport is “well-staffed” but still faces “shortages” of air traffic controllers.
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Two people were killed and several others badly hurt when an Air Canada regional jet struck a fire truck on a runway while landing at the airport, officials said.
The pilot and copilot were killed in the late Sunday night collision, which crushed the nose of the aircraft, while around 40 passengers and crew members were taken to area hospitals, some with serious injuries. Most have since been released from treatment, authorities said Monday.
Two Port Authority employees who were traveling in the fire truck also suffered injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening, aid Kathryn Garcia, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport.
In the moments before the crash, an air traffic controller could be heard on a radio transmission giving clearance to a vehicle to cross part of the tarmac, then trying to stop it.
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