A small aircraft crashed into the tallest building near the center of Beijing on Friday, prompting a heavy police presence in the Chinese capital’s major business district.
A damaged window was visible on the 109-story CITIC Tower in Beijing’s Chaoyang district on Friday evening.
Online footage, consistent with the building’s location, showed debris falling from the skyscraper.
Photos that briefly emerged on Chinese social media platforms on Friday evening showed wreckage, including broken parts that appeared to be from a plane’s tail, on the street near the building.
The exact cause of the crash, including whether it’s accidental or deliberate, remains unclear. Details such as whether there were any casualties or how many people were on board were also unavailable.
Chinese authorities haven’t issued any statement as of the time of publication.
A Beijing resident told The Epoch Times he heard that the crash happened around 6 p.m. local time, but noted that there was no official report or announcement from the city’s authorities.
The resident, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal, expressed surprise and confusion over the incident, especially considering that the Chinese capital city has exceptionally strict airspace controls.
“I was wondering, didn’t Beijing’s air-defense radar detect something as obvious as this?”
A plane crash is rare in Beijing, where the state security apparatus maintains tight control. Since May 1, authorities have effectively banned the sale, rental, and flying of drones over Beijing due to security concerns.
The affected skyscraper, also known as China Zun, is Beijing’s tallest building and is home to the headquarters of CITIC Group, one of China’s largest state-owned financial service providers.
The 1,732-foot tower is located east of Beijing’s center, just 4 to 5 miles from Zhongnanhai, the secretive compound where the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) leaders, including Xi Jinping, live and work.
On Friday night, a heavy police presence was visible near the building. Fire trucks and ambulances also could be seen outside the building.
Police prevented some people from using their phones to record or take photos and asked others to delete those they had already captured, according to Reuters.
A police officer asked Reuters journalists to leave the scene.
When asked why, the officer replied, “We all know why!”
Near the tower, a courier told the British news agency that he had rushed over to the skyscraper around 6 p.m. local time, after hearing a loud crash as a car-sized plane hit the building.
As of the time of publication, no major Chinese state media outlets have covered the incident, and social media posts were quickly taken down on China’s strictly controlled internet. A search for the tower’s name on Baidu, China’s equivalent of Google, yielded no results on Friday night local time, and a search on Douying, the Chinese version of TikTok, also returned no posts related to the incident.
The CCP has a record of tightly controlling information related to disasters and tragic incidents like plane crashes or building collapses.
Luo Ya contributed to this report.
