Beijing: Chinese authorities Saturday said a small plane that crashed into a building in Beijing the day before had killed the pilot and injured 13 others.
The authorities of the Chaoyang district, a vibrant business area, said a two-seat light sport aircraft collided with a high-rise building near the East Third Ring Road at 555 pm Friday and caused the casualties.
The short statement on WeChat did not identify the building or the pilot, who the authorities said was the only person on the craft.
The global flight-tracking service provider Flightradar24 Friday said the plane crashed into the CITIC Tower, also known as China Zun, which rises more than 1,700 feet (528 metres), just east of a major ring road in a cluster of skyscrapers.
The 108-storey CITIC tower, shaped like an ancient Chinese wine vessel, is one of the most recognisable skyscrapers in Beijing and is the tallest building in the city.
Flightradar24 posted on social media the path of the plane, a Sunward SA 60L Aurora, which took off from an airport about 50 kilometres east of Beijing. It headed westward and ended just east of the East Third Ring Road.
Associated Press photos showed Saturday apparent marks of the crash on the glass facade on one side of the CITIC Tower. A hole there had been covered up.
It was not immediately known what caused the crash in a city with strict airspace controls, including a recent ban on drones. An investigation is underway into the situation, the authorities said.
It was also unclear whether the injured were in the building or were hit by debris, but the statement said they were receiving treatment.
The CITIC tower is just a roughly 20-minute drive from Zhongnanhai, a former imperial garden that now serves as headquarters of China’s top leadership, and a 15-minute drive from the Forbidden City, a popular tourist attraction.
Social media posts about the crash were scrubbed from China’s walled-off internet Friday, though footage has made its way outside of China’s firewall and is circulating on overseas sites such as X.com. A report by financial news platform Caixin about the crash’s casualties soon became inaccessible Saturday. Chinese authorities consider such incidents to be a sensitive matter.
Images and videos shared on social media appeared to show debris from a small aircraft near the skyscraper. While the images were consistent with the location, it was not possible to independently confirm their authenticity. One image of the wreckage shows a partial registration number of B-12. The full registration number of the aircraft is B-12PP.
According to Flightradar24, the aircraft was operated by Shuangyue General Aviation, an apparent reference to Dongshi Shuangyue (Beijing) General Aviation, whose website was not accessible Saturday. The firm provides services ranging from private pilot training to aerial sightseeing tours, said an online platform citing official data.
SA 60L is a product of Starair Aircraft, based in China’s central Hunan province. According to Starair’s website, the single-engine aircraft accounts for more than 70 per cent of China’s light sports aircraft market and has been exported to Australia and the United States.
Its maximum cruise speed is 220 kilometres per hour and its maximum takeoff weight is 600 kilograms (1,322 pounds), the website said.
