A domestically produced Chinese aircraft reportedly crashed into the 109-storey-tall CITIC Tower, also called China Zun, Beijing’s tallest skyscraper, with visuals showing two of the building’s windows being shattered by the impact.
Several videos went viral on social media, showing fragments of the small plane falling from the 1,700-foot-tall building. Thick smoke rose from the building’s ground floor, where wreckage was scattered.
The building has been evacuated and the number of casualties remains unclear as of now. Jaano Junction cannot independently verify the visuals.
The super high-rise skyscraper is located in the central business district of Chaoyang District. It is the third-tallest tower in China, after Shanghai Tower and Ping An Finance Centre.
One of the wings of the Sunward SA 60L Aurora aircraft (B-12PP), one of China’s most successful domestically produced light aviation aircraft, was seen lying at the side of the building. Another photo showed a gaping hole in the skyscraper.
According to a report, the pilot of the B-12PP aircraft was flying solo and had taken off from Shifosi Airport just half an hour before the incident. The plane was preparing to return to the airport for landing at 5:40 pm, but it deviated from the flight path.
Flight monitoring tracked the plane until it lost signal in the area of Beijing’s East Fifth Ring Road. The aircraft then lost contact and could not be reached.
Reuters reported a heightened police presence around the tower, with police officers stopping passersby from taking photographs of the building. Police also closed several roads around CITIC Tower as emergency crews responded to the incident.
The cause of the incident remains under investigation.
