Small aircraft crashes into Beijing’s tallest building, killing pilot and injuring 13

BEIJING — A light aircraft about the size of a car crashed into Beijing’s tallest building on Friday, killing ​the pilot and injuring 13 people who were not on ‌board, the local government said following the unusual incident for the Chinese capital, where airspace is heavily restricted.

Those injured are receiving medical treatment and authorities are ​investigating the incident, Chaoyang district government said in a statement ​on Saturday.

“A single-engine, two-seat light sport aircraft collided with ⁠a high-rise building while flying near the East third ring road ​in Chaoyang, at 5:55 p.m. on June 26,” said the ​statement, which was posted on social media.

“There was only one person on board, the pilot, who died,” the statement added, without giving any further details of ​the possible cause of the crash.

It was unclear if the crash was deliberate or accidental.

Damage to the facade of the ​skyscraper appeared to be limited to a hole caused by the loss of ‌two ⁠large glass panels. The gap had been temporarily boarded up as of Saturday.

Reuters reported on Friday the crash into the 108-storey, 528-metre-high building, known as CITIC Tower or China Zun, in Beijing’s Central Business ​District, the headquarters of the state-owned conglomerate CITIC Group. It is about 3.7 ⁠miles from the Forbidden City visited by thousands of tourists each day.

It is also near Zhongnanhai, a ​compound that houses the offices of China’s top ​political leadership.

On Friday, 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.

A courier standing among people who had gathered near the building said he had rushed over to CITIC ​Tower around 6 p.m. 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.

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Police were preventing people from taking pictures and asking others to delete those they had taken ​while ushering people away from the building, with dozens of police cars and several fire trucks lining nearby roads.

Another courier said he ‌had come ⁠to the scene after seeing unverified social media images showing the 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, or Red Note, returned only posts dated Thursday.

An office worker in a ​nearby building said she saw ​a blue tarp over ⁠a large object on the road at the side of the building the size of a VW Beetle from her office window at around 6:45 p.m.

“I was on my ​way down to dinner when someone said a plane had crashed into the next ​building. So we ⁠went to look out the window and saw police cars, ambulances and the blue tarp on the road,” said the 39-year-old.

One of the bystanders at ⁠the scene ​told Reuters he heard the loud crash too, and that “it’s very strange ​for a plane to fly into this area.”

A police officer later told Reuters journalists to leave. Asked why, the officer said: “We all know why!”

The ⁠incident follows Beijing’s ban since May on buying, renting or flying drones without authorization, due to public security concerns.

The last aircraft crash in ⁠Beijing ​was in 2022, when a tourist helicopter ​crashed during a flight between the Changping and Fangshan districts, killing the two pilots ​on board.