NEW YORK — Air Canada has set up a phone line for friends and family of passengers on Air Canada Express flight AC8646, following the crash late last night at LaGuardia Airport.

Two pilots were killed in the crash. All 72 passengers and four crew have been accounted for, said Kathryn Garcia, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport. Garcia said 41 people were taken to two hospitals in Queens and that 32 were eventually released. Nine remained in care, including some in serious condition.

Air Canada sent out an update just after 7 a.m. this morning.

“Flight 8646 was en route to LGA from Montreal. Jazz Aviation LP, operating as Air Canada Express, confirmed the incident occurred at 11:30 p.m. last night. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey confirmed that the pilot and the first officer were killed in this accident. We are deeply saddened by the loss of two Jazz employees, and our deepest condolences go out to the entire Jazz community and their families,” said the airline.

Air Canada said it cannot confirm the exact number of injuries, or if there are other fatalities at this time. Emergency services are on site taking care of injured passengers, and some have been transported to local hospitals, said the airline. 

Air Canada and Jazz will continue to issue regular updates as information becomes known, and teams from the airline are preparing to make their way to the site. More information can be found here.

Air Canada and Jazz Aviation are cooperating with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada and the National Transportation Safety Board in the United States in the investigation of the cause of the incident.

A post on Air Canada’s site for family and friends of passengers onboard AC8646 reads: “Flight AC8646 from Montréal (YUL) to LaGuardia (LGA) was involved in an incident on March 22, 2026. We understand how concerned you are for your loved ones, and we are working very closely with the authorities and local agencies to share the most accurate and up-to-date information as it becomes available. If you have questions or need assistance, please contact us at 1-800 961-7099.” There’s also out-of-country contact information.

LGA REMAINS CLOSED TO FACILITATE INVESTIGATION 

According to accounts of the crash, the Bombardier CRJ900 jet touched down and slammed into a fire truck on a runway at LGA. Two Port Authority employees travelling in the fire truck suffered non-life-threatening injuries. The firefighting truck was responding to a separate incident onboard a United Airlines aircraft when it was hit.

Photos from the scene show the jetliner on the ground, surrounded by red rescue vehicles, in the glare of portable floodlights. Its crumpled nose is in the air pointed toward the sky, the cockpit peeled back all the way back to the first passenger window, exposing a shredded tangle of wires and flight controls.

Stairways used to evacuate passengers from aircraft were seen pushed up to the emergency exits on the white jet, the Air Canada Express logo emblazoned along the fuselage of the Bombardier CRJ.

A heavily damaged neon yellow fire truck was seen nearby, laying on its side.

In the moments before the crash, airport controllers were dealing with an emergency after a United Airlines flight aborted its takeoff and reported a strange odour onboard.

A review of publicly available air traffic control recordings by The Canadian Press suggests the odour made some flight attendants feel ill. LaGuardia controllers were also mobilizing a stair truck in case the plane needed to let people off.

One air traffic control could be heard on a radio transmission giving clearance to a vehicle to cross part of the tarmac, then trying to stop it.

Garcia said LGA will remain closed until at least 2 p.m. today, March 23, to facilitate the investigation, which was being led by the NTSB. LaGuardia was 19th busiest in 2024 out of more than 500 U.S. airports, with over 16.7 million passengers boarding there, according to a 2025 FAA database.

With file from The Canadian Press

Lead image caption: An Air Canada Jet sits on the runway at LaGuardia Airport, Monday, March 23, 2026, after colliding with a Port Authority aircraft rescue and firefighting vehicle after landing in New York (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)