A flight attendant has been found alive on the runway after being thrown from a passenger jet during a catastrophic crash at New York’s LaGuardia Airport.
The cabin attendant was ejected from the aircraft on impact and discovered still strapped into her seat.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: More details emerge out of horror Air Canada plane crash
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The Air Canada Express passenger jet was coming in to land at about 160km/h when it slammed into a fire truck crossing the runway at New York’s LaGuardia Airport on Monday night.
Photos from the scene showed how catastrophic the impact was with the front of the passenger jet obliterated and the cockpit completely torn off.
The fire truck was a mangled mess of metal on the side of the runway.
The Air Canada Express passenger jet was coming in to land at about 160km/h when it slammed into a fire truck crossing the runway.. Credit: Sunrise
Both pilots were killed in the incident, and 41 people were taken to hospital, some with very serious injuries.
Dozens have since been released.
Seventy-two passengers and four crew were on board the plane, and two officers were in the fire truck at the time of impact.
Distressing audio from air traffic control has since revealed what happened in the moments leading up to the collision.
In the recording, an air traffic controller can be heard desperately trying to stop the collision.
“Frontier 4195, just stop there, please. Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. Stop truck one, stop. Stop truck one, stop.”
After the crash, the devastated controller can be heard saying, “That wasn’t good to watch.”
Another voice responds: “Yeah, I know I was here, I tried to reach out to my staff… we were dealing with an emergency earlier.”
“No man, you did the best you could,” comes the reply.
Investigators are pointing to human error as the likely cause of the crash, focusing on how a vehicle was cleared to cross the runway moments before the landing aircraft arrived.
LaGuardia Airport remains closed as authorities continue their investigation.
Pilot, copilot killed after plane collides with truck at major airport
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