A car-sized aircraft crashed into Beijing’s CITIC Tower on Friday, June 26, leaving two glass panels damaged. Police closed roads, stopped passersby from filming, and deleted posts spread quickly online as officials offered no immediate comment.
Beijing’s tallest skyscraper went quiet after a crash loud enough to shake nearby streets.
On Friday. June 26. an aircraft described as being about the size of a car struck CITIC Tower. also known as China Zun. according to two bystanders who spoke to Reuters. Police moved fast—closing approach roads to cars. stopping passersby from filming. and asking people to delete videos they had taken. Several fire trucks and dozens of police cars lined the area around the building.
CITIC Tower is a 108-story skyscraper in Beijing’s central business district and serves as the headquarters of the state-owned CITIC Group. Two glass panels on a high floor were damaged after the impact. There was no immediate official comment from authorities.
Outside business hours, Beijing’s municipal government did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment.
A courier who spoke to Reuters said he rushed to CITIC Tower around 6 p.m. local time (1000 GMT) after hearing the loud crash. “It was so loud – louder than fireworks,” the courier said. He added that he had filmed the aircraft sticking out of the building. but deleted the video after he became afraid of being caught by police.
Another courier said he arrived after seeing unverified social media images showing wreckage of a small aircraft on a road next to the building.
Online, the information appeared and then vanished quickly. Social media posts of the building were removed on Friday from Chinese platforms, and a search of the tower’s name on the Xiaohongshu app returned only posts dated Thursday.
At the scene, a police officer told Reuters journalists to leave. When asked why they had to go, the officer replied: “We all know why!”
The sequence on the ground—road closures, a heavy police presence, the prevention of filming, and swift removals online—left one clear picture in real time: the crash was not just a moment captured by witnesses, but a developing incident authorities moved to control immediately.
Beijing CITIC Tower China Zun aircraft crash Reuters police closed roads Xiaohongshu CITIC Group aviation accident China