BEIJING - An aircraft about the size of a car crashed into Beijing’s tallest building, the CITIC Tower, on Friday, as police closed off roads around the skyscraper and stopped passersby from filming the scene.
The incident involved a domestically made Sunward SA 60L Aurora single-passenger sport plane, according to the South China Morning Post. The collision scattered debris across the central business district and prompted immediate evacuation of the 109-storey skyscraper.
The plane was reportedly registered to Shuangyue General Aviation, a regional flight training provider, the New York Times reported. The whereabouts and identity of the pilot were unknown.
Video taken from a nearby building by a witness showed fire trucks blasting water at smoke coming from the 528-metre tower.
People evacuated from the building gathered on the streets near the entrance, along with firetrucks, police cars and an ambulance. High above, bright lights occasionally flashed around a hole in the side of the building as repair work got under way.
The plane’s tail section was seen on the ground, and a taxicab windshield appeared to have been shattered by fallen debris.
The building, also known as China Zun, is the headquarters of the state-owned conglomerate CITIC Group.
There was a heavy police presence at the site, with some approach roads closed to cars. Police prevented some people from taking pictures and asked others to delete those they had taken while ushering people away from the building.
Two glass panels on a high floor were damaged. There was no immediate official comment. Beijing’s municipal government did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment from Reuters outside of business hours.
A courier whom Reuters spoke to near the building said he had rushed over to CITIC Tower around 6pm local time from a nearby location after hearing a loud crash as a aircraft about the size of a car hit the building.
“It was so loud — louder than fireworks,” he said.
He said he had shot a video of the aircraft sticking out of the building, but later deleted it because he was scared of getting caught by police. (Story continues below)
Another courier whom Reuters spoke to said he had come to the scene after seeing unverified social media images showing wreckage of a small aircraft on a road next to the building.
Social media posts of the building on Friday were quickly removed from Chinese social media. A search of the building’s name on the Xiaohongshu app returned only posts dated Thursday.
Dozens of police cars and several fire trucks lined the roads around the building.
A police officer told Reuters journalists to depart from the scene. Asked why they had to leave, the police officer said: “We all know why!”
