A flight attendant has been found strapped to her seat outside an Air Canada Express jet after a deadly collision at New York’s LaGuardia Airport.

The plane with 76 on board was landing about midnight on Sunday (US time) when it slammed into the side of a fire truck on the runway.

The fire truck was reportedly on its way to a separate emergency.

The aircraft struck the firefighting vehicle at a speed of about 40km/h, according to flight tracking website Flightradar24.

Harrowing footage shows the plane barrelling down the runway and smashing into the truck that crosses its path.

The crash ripped open the front of the aircraft, killing both pilots.

Dozens of passengers were injured; 41 passengers and crew were taken to hospital, along with two officers from the firetruck, authorities said.

The Air Canada jet’s nose was destroyed. Photo: AAP

CBS News reported that a flight attendant was found alive still strapped into her seat outside the plane. She had serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

Her seat reportedly fell through a hole in the floor of the aircraft.

The flight attendant’s daughter told Quebec’s TVA News that her mother’s survival was a “miracle”.

She suffered multiple bone fractures and was hospitalised for a broken leg after being ejected from the plane.

“It’s a complete miracle. At the moment of impact, her seat was ejected more than 100 metres from the plane,” Sarah Lepine said.

“They found her and she was still strapped into her seat. She had a guardian angel watching over her. It could have been much worse.”

The wreckage of the fire truck. Photo: AAP

The Air Canada Express CRJ-900 plane is operated ‌by the airline’s regional partner Jazz Aviation.

It was carrying 72 passengers and four crew from Montreal, Canada, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey executive director Kathryn Garcia said.

She said the fire truck was responding to ‌a United Airlines ‌aircraft that had “reported an issue with ⁠odour”.

In audio from air traffic control, the truck is given the go-ahead to cross Runway 4 before a controller starts shouting: “Stop, stop, stop, stop, truck 1, stop, stop, stop.”

Later, two air traffic controllers discuss what happened.

“That wasn’t good to watch,” says one.

The other responds: “Yeah, I know. I was there. I was trying to reach out to ’em to stop. We were dealing with an emergency earlier. I messed up.”

Garcia said 32 of the 41 injured had been released, while nine remained in hospital with “serious injuries”.

Those injured included passengers, crew members and the two officers aboard the fire truck late on Sunday.

Both officers remained hospitalised with non-life-threatening injuries.

The US National ​Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team of technical experts to investigate the incident. The US Federal Aviation Administration said the airport was expected to remain shut ​until Monday afternoon (local time).

The closure of one of New York’s busiest airports will add to travel disruption caused by the weeks-long partial government shutdown.

Absences among transportation security workers have soared, leading to lengthy lines for passengers at major US airports.

New York City’s emergency notification system said people could expect ​cancellations, ​road closures, traffic delays and emergency personnel near the airport.

About 537 flights ​had been cancelled at the airport so far on Monday, according to tracking website ‌FlightAware.

LaGuardia served more than 30 million annual passengers in 2025, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. It is used by a wide range of US airlines.

According to the FAA, there were 97 runway incursions in the US in January, compared with 133 incidents during the same month in 2025.

A bipartisan group of US House lawmakers in February proposed legislation to address 50 aviation safety recommendations issued after a year-long investigation into the January 2025 collision between an American Airlines regional jet and ​a US Army Black Hawk helicopter that killed 67 people.

-with AAP