A small plane crashed into China’s capital’s tallest building, CITIC Tower, also known as China Zun, on Friday, sending debris from the plane around the 109-storey structure, causing panic.

The incident resulted in the immediate evacuation of people in the building, with authorities, including the police, firefighters, and medical personnel, aiding people in evacuating the building to avoid casualties.

Clips shared on social media showed several parts of the aircraft falling from the tower, damaging properties, including vehicles below the building.

The light sport aircraft plane was identified as a Sunward SA 60L Aurora, which is reportedly owned by a Chinese aviation company, and took off from  Beijing’s Shifosi airport with unconfirmed flight tracking information suggesting it changed its route unexpectedly.

The CITIC tower is the tallest building in the Chinese capital, accommodating over 10,000 workers with 109 floors above ground and seven below. The building is also the headquarters of the CITIC Group alongside other major companies such as Alibaba and Ant Group.

A resident near the scene told CNN that the presence of an aircraft in Beijing’s central metropolis was unusual and concerning due to the city’s tight aviation restrictions.

“I heard a lot of policy, rules, and laws about ‘Don’t use any aircraft in Beijing. So I’m actually scared about it, because this is a central business district, how could they allow a flight in the air for 20 minutes to get into this district” 

She added that although the plane appeared small and the incident occurred after working hours, the situation remained “scary.”

Further details on the cause of the crash, possible injuries and how the aircraft entered the restricted area were not immediately released by authorities.