Pilot, co-pilot killed as Air Canada Express plane collides with ground vehicle at New York's LaGuardia airport

An Air Canada Express plane with about 76 people on board hit the ground vehicle at New York's LaGuardia airport late on Sunday, in an incident that closed the airport. According to reports, pilot and co-pilot were killed in the accident.

According to flight tracking website FlightRadar24, the plane was flying from Montreal and collided with a ground ⁠vehicle upon landing in ‌New York.

The CRJ-900 plane, which was coming from Montreal, struck the vehicle at a speed of about 24 miles per hour (39 kph), said flight ⁠tracking website ‌Flightradar24, which last recorded data at 11:37 p.m. ET (0337 GMT).

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a ground ​stop for ⁠all planes at the airport until 0530 GMT, according to a notice from the ⁠regulator.

Th reason for the halt at the airport was an ⁠emergency and there was a high probability ‌of an extension, without ‌specifying any details, FAA notice showed.

In a separate ‌notice to airmen, ‌the FAA said that the airport could be shut until 1800 GMT.

According to some social media videos, the nose of the plane is said to be damaged.

The plane involved in the accident was operated by Air Canada's regional partner ‌Jazz, which is owned by Chorus Aviation.

Jazz said the aircraft was carrying 72 passengers and four crew members based on a preliminary passenger list that remained subject to confirmation.

With inputs Reuters