The damaged portion of the Zun Tower, Beijing, Friday.Han Guan Ng/The Associated Press
A small aircraft about the size of a car crashed into Beijing’s tallest building Friday, in a shocking incident that was met with intense censorship on the Chinese internet.
Airspace over China’s capital is tightly controlled, including for drones and small planes, raising questions about how the aircraft was able to get close to the 109-storey China Zun tower, less than 10 kilometres from Tiananmen Square and the government compound of Zhongnanhai.
A hole is seen (R) on the tower.PETER CATTERALL/AFP/Getty Images
There were few details available about the incident Saturday morning local time, with discussion of the crash tightly controlled online and no coverage in state media. Roads around the tower were closed and there was a heavy police presence stopping anyone getting close.
Police were reportedly telling passersby not to take photos and to delete any footage of the crash, which occurred around 6pm local time Friday.
Nevertheless, videos which did make it to the non-Chinese internet showed the small plane, similar to those used for training pilots, striking and becoming stuck in the upper floors of the building, damaging two glass panels and sending debris raining down on the street below.
Staff and tenants at China Zun were evacuated from the building as police locked down the area around the crash site, picking up debris and packing it into evidence bags late into the night.
Police personnel block the road near the tower in Beijing.ADEK BERRY/AFP/Getty Images
Several ambulances were seen parked near the building. It is unclear whether there were any casualties as a result of the crash, or what happened to the pilot.
According to tracking service FlightRadar, the plane, tail number B-12PP, typically operates out of a small airfield in Beijing’s eastern suburbs, and appears to be used for training purposes — flight data from earlier in the week shows it repeatedly flying in loops before landing.
People gather near the tower after an eyewitness reported plane debris at the base of the building.ADEK BERRY/AFP/Getty Images
Completed in 2018, China Zun is Beijing’s tallest skyscraper, at 528 metres. It was developed by and servers as the headquarters of Citic Group, one of China’s largest state-owned financial conglomerates.
Last month, Beijing introduced new regulations tightly limiting the use of drones in most of the capital, requiring prior approval for all outdoor flights, with most limited to specified areas, such as the northwestern Yanqing district, which has been designated a “low-altitude economy” zone.