MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
New York's LaGuardia airport is shut down this morning after a plane crashed into a fire truck on a runway late last night. Pictures show the front of an Air Canada regional jet was ripped off in the crash. The pilot and the copilot are dead, according to the Port Authority, and there are many injuries. Reporter Steve Kastenbaum is outside of the terminal, and he's with us now. Steve, good morning.
STEVE KASTENBAUM: Good morning.
MARTIN: What do we know about how this happened? Do we know anything?
KASTENBAUM: Well, at a press conference this morning, Kathryn Garcia - she's the executive director of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey - said an aircraft rescue and firefighting vehicle was responding to a separate incident - it was a report of an odor inside a United Airlines plane that was on the tarmac - when that truck was hit by the regional jet. The pilot and copilot were killed. The emergency response truck was first cleared to cross that section of the tarmac before it was quickly called back, but by then it was too late. The truck flipped over on its side, and the severely damaged plane came to a stop nearby. Debris was scattered all over the tarmac, and passengers were evacuated through the emergency exits.
MARTIN: Do we know how many other injuries there were?
KASTENBAUM: Well, there were 72 passengers and four crew members aboard the plane. The flight, which was operated by Jazz Aviation on behalf of Air Canada, originated in Montreal. Garcia said 41 people were taken to nearby hospitals for treatment. Thirty-two of them have already been released. Nine people were still being treated as of this morning, some with serious injuries. Two Port Authority police officers who were on that truck were also hurt pretty badly and taken to a hospital.
MARTIN: And, Steve, you were actually planning to be at LaGuardia for another reason - to report on these long lines at TSA due to the partial government shutdown. Is this accident related to the shutdown in any way?
KASTENBAUM: So initially, it doesn't appear that this crash was connected to the government shutdown, but the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating. The main question is, why was that truck cleared to cross that section of the runway as the Air Canada flight was landing? In the meantime, a day after long lines snaked around the airport terminal, LaGuardia Airport remains closed to all flights. It'll stay that way until at least 2:00 p.m. Over 900 flights arrive and depart from this airport each day.
MARTIN: That is reporter Steve Kastenbaum outside LaGuardia Airport's terminal. Steve, thank you so much.
KASTENBAUM: My pleasure.
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