The Delta Air Lines plane reportedly flipped over amid high winds, leaving three people critically injured
A plane carrying 80 passengers flipped over after landing at Toronto airport, injuring 18 people, with three of those in a critical condition, officials said.
Toronto’s Pearson Airport confirmed that a Delta Airlines flight arriving from Minneapolis was involved in the incident, with pictures showing a plane belly up on the snow-covered tarmac.
Of the injuries, three are critical, Peel Regional Paramedic Services told Reuters. One of the injured is a child.
All passengers and crew were accounted for, the airport said in a statement on X.
Canadian authorities said they would investigate the cause of the crash.
Passenger John Nelson posted a video of the aftermath on Facebook, showing a fire engine spraying water on the plane that was lying belly-up on the snow-covered tarmac.
He later told CNN there was no indication of anything unusual before landing.
“We hit the ground, and we were sideways, and then we were upside down,” he said.
“I was able to just unbuckle and sort of fall and push myself to the ground. And then some people were kind of hanging and needed some help being helped down, and others were able to get down on their own,” he said.
Deborah Flint, president of the Toronto airport, attributed to the absence of fatalities in part to the work of first responders at the airport.
Flights to and from the airport were initially grounded after the incident, which took place at around 2.45pm local time, with services resuming at 5pm.
Before the crash, dozens of departures and arrivals at the airport had been delayed due to bad weather.
According to the Meteorological Service of Canada, the airport was experiencing blowing snow and winds of 32mph gusting to 40mph, with a temperature of about minus 8.6C.
Earlier on Monday, Pearson said it was attempting to catch up with missed flights after more than 22cm (8.6 inches) of snow fell over the weekend.
Public broadcaster CBC television reported that the plane flipped on landing, with pictures showing the aircraft upside down on the runway.
All 80 people on the plane were evacuated, according to a statement from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
“Delta Air Lines Flight 4819, operated by Endeavor Air, crashed while landing at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada around 14:45 local time,” the FAA added.
Delta Air Lines said it was “aware of reports of Endeavor Flight 4819 operating from Minneapolis/St Paul to Toronto-Pearson International Airport as involved in an incident”.
Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which closed a deal to buy the CRJ aircraft program from Bombardier in 2020, said it was aware of the incident and would fully cooperate with the investigation.
Endeavour Air, based in Minneapolis, is a subsidiary of Delta and the world’s largest operator of CRJ-900 aircraft.
The airline operates 130 regional jets on 700 daily flights to more than 126 cities in the US, Canada and the Caribbean, according to the company’s website.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada, the independent agency that investigates plane crashes, said it was deploying a team of investigators to the site.
Transport Canada, the government agency, said it was monitoring the incident.
Constable Sarah Patten of the Peel Regional Police in Ontario told reporters: “There is a plane crash. However, we don’t know the circumstances surrounding it at this point.
“It is my understanding that most of the passengers are out and unharmed but we’re still trying to make sure so we’re still on scene investigating.”
The incident comes after other recent crashes in North America last month.
An Army helicopter collided with a passenger jet in Washington, killing 67 people, while at least seven people died when a medical transport plane crashed in Philadelphia.