A small plane hit Beijing’s CITIC Tower on Friday, sending debris into the street and prompting an evacuation of the city’s tallest skyscraper, according to footage and reports circulating after the crash.
Video shared on social media shows the light aircraft breaking apart as it drops from the sky after striking the tower. The images are brief, but grimly clear enough: the plane disintegrates in the air, with pieces landing around the surrounding area.
What the video shows after the crash
The circulating footage does not appear to show major visible damage to CITIC Tower, the landmark skyscraper also known as China Zun. That is not the same as saying there was no damage, only that the clips posted online did not show obvious structural destruction from the outside.
Photos from the scene showed large pieces of wreckage scattered nearby. One image appeared to show the aircraft’s tail section still intact and lying in the street.
A social media post in Chinese identified the aircraft as a B-12PP domestic light general aviation plane. Authorities had not immediately confirmed the cause of the crash.
