Updated ,first published
Beijing: A small plane crashed into Beijing’s tallest skyscraper, puncturing a hole in the side of the building and sending debris into the street below, prompting speculation about a major security lapse close to the capital’s official buildings.
Authorities scrambled to block public coverage of the incident, which took place at the 108-storey CITIC Tower in Beijing’s central business district about 6pm on Friday (8pm AEST).
By Saturday afternoon, Chinese officials had still not commented on the crash. Government censors have scrubbed any mention from the Chinese internet, and the incident was not being reported by local media.
Video footage posted to X, which is blocked in China, showed the aftermath of the plane hitting upper floors of the 528-metre building.
It smashed through two glass panels. Debris and parts of the plane could be seen tumbling into the street below, while other footage showed the wreckage of the aircraft’s tail in the street.
It is not known whether there were casualties, how many people were injured, or how many were on board the aircraft.
The cause of the crash is also unknown. It has triggered questions about how the pilot was able to fly into the centre of Beijing unobstructed, particularly after authorities tightened controls over the city’s airspace last month, which made it illegal to fly or even buy a drone without government approval.
“This is an event of potential political significance,” Victor Shih, director of China Centre at the University of California, San Diego, posted on X. “Even without considering the pilot’s motive, where were all the forces that are supposed to protect Beijing’s airspace and the leadership?”
China analyst Bill Bishop described the incident as a massive breach that would trigger “an earthquake in [the] Beijing security system”.
“Not many more seconds of flying and [the plane] could have been at Zhongnanhai,” Bishop posted on X, referring to the secretive Chinese Communist Party headquarters that doubles as President Xi Jinping’s residence.
Known as the CITIC Tower, or China Zun, the skyscraper is the headquarters of Citic Group, one of China’s biggest state-owned financial conglomerates.
Images of the plane’s wreckage show it was stamped with the registration code B-12PP. According to Flightradar24 records, the plane was a two-seat Sunward SA 60L Aurora light aircraft operated by a local general aviation company.
In the immediate aftermath of the crash, Reuters reported a heavy police presence at the site. Authorities were preventing people from taking pictures and asking others to delete their footage.
A courier told the news agency that he had heard a loud crash about 6pm and rushed towards the building. He said he filmed a video of the aircraft sticking out of the building but later deleted it fearing that he would be reprimanded by authorities.
“It was so loud – louder than fireworks,” he told Reuters.
An office worker in a nearby building said she was on her way to dinner “when someone said a plane had crashed into the next building”.
“So we went to look out the window and saw police cars, ambulances and the blue tarp on the road,” the 39-year-old said.
With Reuters
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Lisa Visentin is the North Asia correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age based in Beijing. She was previously a federal political correspondent based in Canberra.Connect via X or email.