Beijing light aircraft crash kills pilot and injures 13 on ground

BEIJING: A light aircraft struck Beijing’s tallest building on Friday, killing the pilot and injuring 13 people on the ground, according to a statement issued by the Chaoyang district government on Saturday.

The district government said the injured were receiving medical treatment and that an investigation into the incident was under way. The crash was unusual for the Chinese capital, where access to airspace is tightly controlled.

According to the official statement, the aircraft was a single-engine, two-seat light sport plane that hit a high-rise near the East Third Ring Road in Chaoyang at 5:55pm local time on June 26. The statement said there was only one person aboard the aircraft and that the pilot died in the crash. It did not provide further details on what may have caused the accident.

Visible damage to the building’s exterior appeared limited. The facade showed a hole where two large glass panels had been knocked out, and the opening had been temporarily covered by Saturday.

Reuters had reported on Friday that the aircraft hit the 528-metre CITIC Tower, also known as China Zun, in Beijing’s central business district. The tower stands about six kilometres from the Forbidden City, a major tourist site, and is also near Zhongnanhai, the compound that houses the offices of China’s top political leadership.

The incident comes after Beijing imposed a ban in May on the purchase, rental or operation of drones without authorisation, citing public security concerns.

The previous aircraft crash reported in Beijing was in 2022, when a tourist helicopter went down during a flight between Changping and Fangshan districts, killing the two pilots on board.