LaGuardia Airport closed after deadly collision between Air Canada Express jetliner, fire truck

Authorities have temporarily halted air traffic at New York’s LaGuardia Airport after a collision late Sunday between an Air Canada Express jet and a firetruck.

The pilot and co-pilot were killed in the crash, which occurred shortly after the regional jet, out of Montreal and operated by Jazz Airlines, landed. 

Seventy-two passengers and four crew members were reportedly onboard. 

The jet was reportedly traveling over 100 mph when it slammed into the truck.

Seventy-one were reportedly taken to a nearby hospital with minor injuries, among them reportedly two New York Port Authority police officers aboard the fire truck.

The fire truck was reportedly in the runway area responding to an incident on another flight.

The crash occurred shortly before midnight, rattling nerves in an airline industry already grappling with long airport lines caused by a temporary shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, under which Department of Transportation Safety Administration security agents are working without pay.

The National Transportation Safety Board dispatched a team to investigate the wreckage, and the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a ground stop that closed New York City's second-largest airport.

"The NTSB is launching a go team to investigate the March 22 Jazz Aviation, Air Canada Express Flight 8646, CRJ900, airplane that collided with a fire truck on Runway 4 at LaGuardia Airport," the NTSB said.

Footage from the scene showed the front of the plane badly damaged and tipped upwards with the Port Authority firetruck on its side.

 CBS News reports the incident to which the fire truck was responding was a United Airlines flight having aborted its takeoff after an anti-ice warning light came on. They reported an odor in the cabin and requested that firefighters come to assist. The pilots said flight attendants were feeling ill and declared an emergency.