An aircraft that collided with a ground vehicle at New York LaGuardia Airport on the night of the 22nd [Reuters Yonhap News]

An Air Canada Express passenger jet collided with a fire truck while landing on a runway at New York's LaGuardia Airport, causing the airport to cease operations entirely until the afternoon of the 23rd (local time).

According to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), a Bombardier CRJ-900 passenger jet (flight ACA8646) belonging to Air Canada Express, which departed from Montreal, Canada, collided with a fire truck used for aircraft rescue shortly after landing on the LaGuardia Airport runway at approximately 11:45 PM Eastern Time on the 22nd.

Two pilots on the aircraft died in the accident, and dozens of passengers and crew members sustained injuries.

At a press conference held earlier in the day, Kathleen Garcia, director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which oversees LaGuardia Airport, stated that 41 passengers and crew members were taken to the hospital, and 32 had already been discharged by the time of the conference. Some of the injured were reported to be in critical condition.

Air Canada stated in a release that it had preliminarily determined there were 72 passengers and 4 crew members on board the affected aircraft.

Two firefighters who were in the fire truck were also hospitalized but are reportedly in stable condition.

Director Garcia explained that the fire truck had been dispatched in response to a report from another aircraft's pilot about a strange smell emanating from the cabin.

The FAA is set to investigate the cause of the accident alongside the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

Air Canada Express is a brand under Air Canada primarily operating short-haul routes. The actual operation of the flight involved in this accident was handled by Jazz Aviation, a Canadian regional airline.

Immediately after the accident, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered a suspension of all takeoffs and landings at LaGuardia Airport.

According to flight tracking website FlightAware, as of 11 AM Eastern Time on the day of the report, approximately 850 flights to and from LaGuardia Airport had been canceled.

LaGuardia Airport is one of the three major airports serving the New York City area, alongside John F. Kennedy International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport. It handles around 900 flights daily, primarily focused on domestic and short-haul routes.