TORONTO, CANADA, FEB 18 (AFP/APP/DNA):A Delta Air Lines jet with 80 people onboard crash landed at the Toronto airport, officials said, flipping upside down and leaving at least 17 people injured but causing no fatalities.
The Endeavor Air flight 4819 with 76 passengers and four crew was landing in the afternoon in Canada’s biggest metropolis, having flown from Minneapolis in the US state of Minnesota, the airline said.
Paramedic services told AFP 17 people were injured including three critically — a child, a man in his 60s and a woman in her 40s. Delta said 18 people suffered injuries.
All wounded, including those with minor injuries, were taken to area hospitals either by ambulance or helicopter, said the paramedic services’ Lawrence Saindon.
No explanation of the cause of the accident, or how the plane ended up on its back with its wings clipped, has been provided.
Dramatic images on local broadcasts and shared on social media showed people stumbling away from the upside down CRJ-900 plane, shielding their faces from strong gusts of wind and blowing snow.
Fire crews appeared to douse the aircraft with water as smoke wafted from the fuselage and as passengers were still exiting the plane.
Toronto airport authority chief executive Deborah Flint told a news conference the incident did not involve any other planes.
Emergency crews were “heroic” in their response, she said, “reaching the site within minutes and quickly evacuating the passengers.”
Some of them “have already been reunited with their friends and their families,” she added.
The airport suspended all flights after the incident, before resuming them at around 5:00 pm local time, more than two hours later. It said passengers should expect long delays.
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