Antoine Forest, of Coteau-du-Lac in Quebec, was identified as one of the victims, according to his family

Antoine Forest

Antoine Forest.Credit : Antoine Forest/Facebook

One of the two pilots killed when a passenger jet and a firetruck crossing the runway at LaGuardia Airport crashed over the weekend have been identified.

Antoine Forest, of Coteau-du-Lac in Quebec, was one of the pilots who died, his family told the Toronto Star. A LinkedIn profile stated he was a first officer with Jazz Aviation, according to the outlet.

The other pilot has not yet been publicly identified.

At a press conference on Monday, March 23, FAA administrator Bryan Bedford said that the pilots were both “two young men at the start of their careers.”

“It’s an absolute tragedy that we’re sitting here with their loss,” Bedford added. “My heart really goes out to their families.”

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul went on to call them “two young pilots” who “left their homes expecting to return to their families and they will not.”

Air Canada Flight 8646 was being operated by Jazz Aviation for Air Canada. The company previously said in a statement that they were “deeply saddened by the loss of two employees and are working to support family members and employees at this difficult time.”

There were 72 passengers and four crew members on board the CRJ-900 aircraft, which was flying from Montreal to LaGuardia, according to officials.

Over 40 people were left injured as a result of the crash, including two people on the truck — Sergeant Michael Orsillo and Officer Adrian Baez — according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Among those who survived was a flight attendant who was ejected from the aircraft and found strapped into her seat.

LaGuardia — which has reopened after being temporarily closed as of Monday, March 23 — has said the crash took place when the Air Canada flight was landing and struck an aircraft rescue and firefighting vehicle that was “responding to a separate incident.”

Audio was later released of the air traffic controllers working at the airport amid the collision.

In the audio from air traffic control, one controller is heard giving the green-light to cross before shouting, “Stop, stop, stop, stop. truck 1, stop, stop, stop.”

“Stop, truck 1, stop!” the controller said again, per the audio recording.

It’s unclear what the firetruck crew did in the moments before the collision.

An investigation remains ongoing.