Beijing — A small light sport aircraft crashed into the 109-story CITIC Tower — Beijing's tallest skyscraper and headquarters of state-owned conglomerate CITIC Group — on Friday afternoon, sending debris raining onto streets below, triggering a building-wide evacuation, and drawing a heavy emergency response, as Chinese authorities imposed an information blackout on the incident.

Social media videos showed debris falling from the tower, also known as China Zun, after the apparent impact. Images from the scene appeared to show the aircraft's tail section on the ground and damage to nearby vehicles. A CNN journalist at the scene reported people evacuated from the building as firefighters, police officers, and ambulances responded.

Flight tracking data from Flightradar24 showed the aircraft — identified as a Sunward SA 60L Aurora, a domestically manufactured light sport plane — took off from an airfield roughly 50 kilometres east of Beijing, headed westward, and ended its flight path just east of the East Third Ring Road, shortly before 6 p.m. local time. AP photos from the scene appeared to identify the aircraft as a lightweight training plane registered to Shuangyue General Aviation, a regional flight training company. Flight data showed it deviated from what experts described as a typical training route before flying toward the city centre.

Police closed off roads surrounding the skyscraper and officers asked bystanders to stop photographing and delete images already taken, ushering people away from the area. One bystander told Reuters: "It's very strange for a plane to fly into this area."

Videos, images, and search results about the crash were being actively scrubbed from China's domestic internet. Authorities had issued no public statement on the incident as of Friday afternoon, and the cause — whether accidental or deliberate — remained unknown.

Beijing has among the most strictly controlled airspace of any major city in the world. Since May 1, the capital has been effectively drone-free under sweeping new regulations banning the purchase, rental, or operation of unmanned aircraft without government approval. No casualty figures had been released.