An eyewitness reported seeing plane debris and fire at the base of Beijing’s tallest building on Friday, as AFP journalists saw a hole in the skyscraper’s side.
Video footage taken by the witness from a nearby building showed fire trucks blasting water at the flames on the ground in front of the 528-metre (1,732-foot) CITIC Tower, while what appeared to be part of a small plane lay on the ground beside the building.
AFP journalists at the scene saw a hole in the windows on one of the upper floors of the skyscraper. Police and ambulances swarmed the area.
Police declined to comment on the incident.
“I don’t know why the plane would fly in here. It really is quite strange,” the witness, a finance worker, told AFP on the condition on anonymity.
A man who worked inside the CITIC building told AFP: “I saw debris on my way out. It looked like part of a plane”.
Dozens of uniformed cleaners gathered near the police cordon Friday evening.
One woman told AFP she had been told to evacuate via the stairs and not to use the lifts.
“I ran down dozens of floors in a hurry,” she said.
Two men who appeared to be from the building’s property management team told the cleaners to go home.
“No one can get in now,” one of the men said.
A middle-aged woman who was staring at the building from the street said she was shocked by the incident.
“This kind of thing wouldn’t happen in Beijing. This is Beijing… It’s pretty common abroad, but in China, it shouldn’t happen,” she told AFP.
“I was very shocked.”
Another onlooker, a student, told AFP he rushed to the scene as soon as information about the crash was shared in an aviation enthusiast social media group.
The CITIC Tower, which has 108 floors above ground and seven below, is able to accommodate 12,000 office workers.
China imposes strict restrictions over its airspace, particularly around Beijing’s urban area.
In April, China announced it was banning the sale of drones in Beijing and would require users to apply for permission for all flights in the capital.
