Aircraft strikes Beijing's CITIC Tower, damaging windows

Police sealed roads around Beijing’s CITIC Tower after a small aircraft hit the skyscraper and damaged two glass panels on a high floor. The 108-story tower, known as China Zun, rises 528 meters, or 1,732 feet, in the city’s central business district and houses the headquarters of CITIC Group.

Witnesses said the aircraft was about the size of a car and struck the building near 6 p.m. local time, jolting one of Beijing’s most prominent landmarks. A courier who heard the impact said it was “louder than fireworks.” Police kept bystanders from filming or taking photos as officers moved quickly to control access around the tower.

The scene drew a heavy security response. Several fire engines and dozens of police vehicles gathered near the building, and roads around the tower were closed. Social-media posts about the incident were also removed quickly from Chinese platforms, reinforcing how tightly information was being managed as officials moved to contain the disruption.

Later accounts identified the aircraft as a domestically made Sunward SA60L Aurora light aircraft with the registration B-12PP. Flight-tracking data suggested the plane had deviated from its planned route, and some reports said it may have been returning to Shifosi Airport. Authorities had not immediately issued an official statement or confirmed the cause.

The damage appeared limited to exterior glass, but the response was unusually large for a single building strike in one of China’s most controlled urban and airspace environments. CITIC Tower, completed in 2018, was built to stand as a defining feature of Beijing’s skyline, and any incident involving its facade instantly became a public-safety question for the capital’s central business district and the institutions responsible for airspace, emergency response, and crowd control.