A small plane crashed into the CITIC Tower, Beijing’s tallest building, on Friday evening, June 26, according to two eyewitnesses who spoke to Reuters. Chinese police quickly cordoned off streets around the skyscraper and stopped people from filming the scene.
The building, also known as China Zun, is a 108 storey skyscraper located in Beijing’s central business district. It serves as the headquarters of the state owned CITIC Group.
A large number of police officers attended the scene, with several roads closed to traffic. Officers stopped some bystanders from taking photos and asked them to delete any images already captured, while urging people to leave the area.
Two glass panels on the upper floors were damaged. There has been no official statement so far, and Beijing’s city administration had not responded to a Reuters fax request for comment outside office hours.
A delivery worker who spoke to Reuters near the building said he rushed to the CITIC Tower at around 6.00pm local time after hearing a loud bang caused by the car sized aircraft striking the building.
“It was very loud, louder than fireworks,” he said.
He added that he had filmed video of the plane protruding from the building, but deleted it afterwards, fearing he could be arrested by police.
Another delivery worker told Reuters he arrived at the scene after seeing unverified images circulating on social media, showing wreckage of a small aircraft on the street beside the building.
Social media posts about the building from Friday were quickly removed from Chinese platforms. A search for the building’s name on Xiaohongshu returned only posts dated Thursday, June 25.
Dozens of police vehicles and several fire trucks lined the streets surrounding the building, reported MGR Online.
Police officers told Reuters journalists to leave the scene. When asked why, they gave a brief reply: ‘We know!’
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