Chinese officials said Saturday that a small aircraft that struck a building in Beijing the previous day left the pilot dead and 13 other people injured.
Authorities in Chaoyang, the capital’s busy commercial district, said the two-seat light sport plane hit a high-rise near East Third Ring Road at 5:55 p.m. Friday, resulting in the reported casualties.
In a brief statement posted on WeChat, officials did not name the building or the pilot, saying only that the pilot was the sole person aboard the aircraft.
Flight-tracking company Flightradar24 said Friday that the plane had crashed into CITIC Tower, also known as China Zun, a skyscraper rising more than 1,700 feet just east of a major ring road in Beijing’s dense high-rise district.
The 108-story CITIC Tower, designed to resemble an ancient Chinese wine vessel, is among Beijing’s most prominent landmarks and stands as the city’s tallest building.
Flightradar24 also shared the aircraft’s route on social media, identifying it as a Sunward SA 60L Aurora that departed from an airport roughly 30 miles east of Beijing, flew west and stopped just east of East Third Ring Road.
By Saturday, Associated Press photographs showed what appeared to be impact marks on the glass exterior along one side of CITIC Tower.
The opening at the site had been covered.
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It was not immediately known what caused the crash in a city with strict airspace controls, including a recent ban on drones. An investigation is underway into the situation, the authorities said.
It was unclear whether the injured were in the building or were hit by debris, but the statement said they were receiving treatment.
Social media posts about the crash were scrubbed from China’s walled-off internet on Friday, though footage has made its way outside of China’s firewall and is circulating on overseas sites such as X.com. Incidents such as crashes are considered sensitive by Chinese authorities.
Images and videos shared on social media appeared to show debris from a small aircraft near the skyscraper.
While the images were consistent with the location, it was not possible to independently confirm their authenticity.
One image of the wreckage shows a partial registration number of “B-12.” The full registration number of the aircraft is B-12PP.
According to Flightradar24, the aircraft was operated by Shuangyue General Aviation, in an apparent reference to Dongshi Shuangyue (Beijing) General Aviation, whose website was not accessible on Saturday.
The firm provides services ranging from private pilot training to aerial sightseeing tours, said an online platform citing official data.
SA 60L is a product of Starair Aircraft, based in China’s central Hunan province. According to Starair’s website, the single-engine aircraft accounts for more than 70% of China’s light sports aircraft market and has been exported to Australia and the United States.
Its maximum cruise speed is 137 miles per hour and its maximum take-off weight is 1,322 pounds, the website said.
