“It was like the plane broke in two.” Testimonies about the plane crash at LaGuardia Airport in New York
The collision of an Air Canada flight with a fire truck on the runway of New York's LaGuardia Airport on Sunday night killed the plane's two pilots, injured dozens of others and left passengers and witnesses in a state of shock, the BBC reports.
“I was literally about 100 meters away,” said Leo Medina, 23, who was on another plane on the runway when the crash happened.
“It was like the plane had broken in half,” the young man told the BBC.
According to his testimony, the aircraft he was in later returned to the gate, he waited at the New York airport for 12 hours, sleeping on the floor, on a makeshift “bed” made of clothes.
In addition to the two pilots who lost their lives, 41 people were injured in the accident on Sunday at 23:40 local time, who were taken to the hospital, some with serious injuries. LaGuardia Airport was closed until Monday afternoon.
“I heard the brakes, then a really loud bang”
Passenger Rebecca Liquori, who was on the plane arriving from Montreal when it hit the fire truck, told local news outlet News12 Long Island that she heard a loud “bang” immediately after landing.
“As I was descending, I encountered strong turbulence. Then I landed very suddenly… Everyone felt it. It was like the plane jerked and I heard the pilot trying to apply the brakes to prevent a collision,” she added.
“After I heard the brakes, a few seconds later there was a very loud bang. Everyone jumped out of their seats,” she added.
Liquori described how passengers helped each other down the wing of the plane to exit.
“I'm just happy to be alive. I never would have imagined that an hour-long flight that I've taken countless times would end like this,” the woman added.
Who are the pilots killed in the plane crash
Antoine Forest, 30, of Quebec, was identified by Canadian media as one of the Air Canada pilots who died in the collision.
The other pilot has not yet been identified.
“They were two young people at the beginning of their careers, so it's a great tragedy,” said Bran Bedford, the administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
In audio recordings from the air traffic control tower at LaGuardia, an employee was heard shouting, “Truck 1, stop, stop, stop!” seconds before impact.
The fire truck had been dispatched minutes before to another plane that had “reported an odor problem,” according to Port Authority Executive Director Kathryn Garcia.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani described the crash as a “tragic collision” and said the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) – an independent federal agency – was investigating the case.
