At least 18 people were injured, most of them not serious, after a Delta Airlines plane crashed on landing at Canada’s Toronto Pearson International Airport, in Canada, sliding on its side.
It was a luck escape for all 80 people on board as no fatalities were recorded.
The CNN quoted Fire Chief Todd Aitken as saying the Delta Air Lines flight with 80 people on board from Minneapolis ended upside down on the runway, and one passenger described hanging “like bats inside the aircraft after it crashed.
Airport CEO Deborah Flint credited the “textbook response” of first responders for ensuring no lives were lost. However, she said two runways will remain closed for the next few days as investigators look into the cause of the crash.
The incident comes less than three weeks after and American Airlines plane collided midair with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter while on approach to Washington DC’s Reagan National Airport, and on the heels of deadly Jeju Air and Azerbaijan Airlines accidents last December.
Eighteen injured passengers were transported to local hospitals after a Delta Air Lines plane crashed while landing at Toronto’s Pearson Airport, the airport’s Fire Chief Todd Aitken said during a news conference on Monday.
Hours earlier, the Toronto Pearson Airport CEO Deborah Flint said there were 17 injuries after the dramatic crash.
Aitken, at his news briefing appeared to be updating her number, saying that “one additional passenger” was transported to a hospital.
While airport fire chief Todd Aitken said it wasn’t appropriate to comment on the investigation into the crash at Toronto Pearson Airport, he did give an update on the conditions of the runway.
“What we can say is the runway was dry and there was no cross-wind conditions,” Aitken said
Authorities are still investigating the crash at Toronto Pearson, the airport’s fire chief said during a brief news conference Monday night.
“The cause of the crash is still under investigation and being led by the Transportation Safety Board. It’s not appropriate for us to comment at this time,” Airport Fire Chief Todd Aitken said.
Neither Aitken nor Waheed Butt, superintendent at Peel Regional Police, who also made a brief statement, took questions from reporters, who expressed frustration with shouted questions about the lack of information about the crash.
Two runways at the airport would remain closed while officials investigate the crash, the airport’s CEO said earlier Monday.
CNN
