The harrowing seconds before the Air Canada Express plane collided with a vehicle at LaGuardia Airport have come to light. Audio released from the Air Traffic Control tower reveals what happened just before the crash that killed two people, and how controllers reacted to it.

A controller tells “truck one and company” to “cross four, Delta”, meaning the fourth runway at the airport, before telling them to “stop there, please”. Panic then sets in, with the controller shouting, “Stop, stop, stop, truck one, stop”. In the background, alarms can be heard ringing – the first noise after the crash.

The controller then orders the closure of the runway and airport. They said: “LaGuardia Airport is closed at this time, no aircraft in or out. There’s an incident on the field. The airport’s closed right now.”

A longer version released by LiveATC captured one controller saying the crash “wasn’t a good watch”. Another adds: “I know, I was here. I tried to reach out… we were dealing with an emergency earlier. I messed up.”

The other controller replied: “Nah, man, you did the best you could.”

The pilot and co-pilot were killed in the crash, and another 41 hospitalised. Thirty-two have since been released, while nine are still receiving treatment, some for serious injuries.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said there will be no flights in or out of the airport until 2pm ET (6pm GMT).

The flight had departed from Montréal–Trudeau International Airport shortly after 10.12 pm ET (2.12 am GMT) and landed at LaGuardia around 90 minutes later at 11.40pm ET (3.40am UK time).

The FAA identified the aircraft as a Bombardier CRJ-900 twin-engine jet and confirmed it is investigating the crash.

Jazz Aviation LP, operating as Air Canada Express, said 72 passengers and four crew members were on board, but added that these are preliminary numbers from its passenger list that are “subject to confirmation”.