A fire truck that collided with an Air Canada Express jet at New York’s LaGuardia Airport late on Sunday was responding to a “separate incident”, officials said.
The truck, a Port Authority Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting vehicle, was reportedly trying to cross the runway to get to a United Airlines flight that declared an emergency on the ground.
The United Airlines flight 2384, which was scheduled to fly to Chicago, had requested fire trucks due to a “weird odour” that was making the flight attendants ill, according to an audio clip of the conversation between the pilot and the air traffic controller that has surfaced on social media.
“We have an odour on the plane as well here at this time; we are going to be going back to the gate and request fire as well,” the pilot told the controller.
The official at the control tower then asked if that’s a “sewer smell”.
A fire truck was trying to cross runway 04 at LGA – LaGuardia Airport this evening to get to a United Airlines flt 2384 that had 2 rejected takeoffs. The United 737 Max declared an emergency on the ground and requested fire trucks due to a strange odor that was making the flight… https://t.co/KJ7wJIgyvz pic.twitter.com/w3e6DhvUfH
— Thenewarea51 (@thenewarea51) March 23, 2026
“We smelt that too going around the terminal there, right before you get to ECHO and turn right on Double Charlie,” the official told the pilot.
The official then asked the pilot if the odour was like a “smoke odour”. “Like, has it been set on fire?” he asked.
“No, it’s a weird odour; I don’t know exactly how to describe it,” the pilot responded.
The pilot then told the official that it is “kind of an emergency”.
“The flight attendants in the back are feeling ill because of the odour,” he said.
He later said that there was “a bit” of an odour in the back of the airplane.
An air traffic controller was later heard giving clearance to a vehicle to cross part of the tarmac, then trying to stop it.
“Stop, Truck 1. Stop,” the controller can then be heard frantically.
🚨#UPDATE: Listen as you can hear panic as air traffic controllers try to divert everyone away from LaGuardia after a jet had collided with a fire truck numerous injuries and now Fatalities are being reported pic.twitter.com/sU7OjwB2ol
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) March 23, 2026
NDTV could not immediately verify the audio.
According to reports, multiple airline crews had reported a “strange and unpleasant odour” at LaGuardia Airport, which served over 30 million annual passengers in 2025, earlier this month.
Air Canada Express Plane-Truck Collision At New York’s LaGuardia Airport
Both pilots were killed after an Air Canada Express regional plane collided with a fire truck while landing at LaGuardia Airport’s Runway 4.
The Air Canada Express CRJ-900 plane, operated by its regional partner Jazz Aviation, was carrying 72 passengers and four crew members from Montreal.
The aircraft struck the fire vehicle at a speed of about 24 miles per hour (39 kmph), according to flight tracking website Flightradar24.
Photo Credit: REUTERS
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the airport was expected to remain shut until 2 pm ET (1800 GMT) on Monday.
Flightradar24 said 18 flights had been diverted to other airports, mostly in the New York area, or returned to their point of origin.
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