Officials have confirmed that at least 18 people were injured Monday after a Delta Air Lines plane overturned upon landing at Toronto Pearson International Airport. There were no fatalities. Toronto Pearson CEO Deborah Flint said that of those injured, none were in critical condition. As of Tuesday morning, 19 of those hospitalized had been released, according to Delta Airlines.
The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that Delta Air Lines Flight 4819, which was operated by Endeavor Air and was arriving from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, crashed on landing in Toronto around 2:15 p.m. Delta said that Endeavor is a “wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines headquartered in Minneapolis.” Eighty people were on the plane, a CRJ-900, the FAA said – 76 passengers and four crew members were on board.
New video footage shared on Tuesday captures the moment Delta Flight 4819 caught fire and rolled over upon landing at Toronto Pearson International Airport Monday afternoon. The shows the plane reach the ground, erupt in flames, bounce on the runway and then overturn. (per ABC News.). John Nelson, who recorded the video, is heard saying: “We just landed. Our plane crashed. It’s upside down,” as he walked away from the plane. He said that “most people appear to be OK” and that passengers were getting off of the plane. The aircraft came to a stop upside-down on the snow covered Toronto runway.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian said in a statement: “Our most pressing priority remains taking care of all customers and Endeavor crew members who were involved. We’ll do everything we can to support them and their families in the days ahead, and I know the hearts, thoughts and prayers of the entire Delta community are with them. We are grateful for all the first responders and medical teams who have been caring for them.”
Another passenger aboard the Delta flight, Pete Koukov, recalled how within seconds of the wheels touching down, his body was turned fully sideways and he and other passengers were left dangling by their seat belts. Koukov said on the “TODAY” show Tuesday morning: “I didn’t really notice anything wrong until the moment we hit the ground. The wheels touched down … I was in the window seat on the lookers left side, and then all of a sudden, I just remember being fully sideways. I was looking down and just seeing like sparks and flames and whatever was grinding against the ground. It happened pretty dang quick and we were just upside down, hanging from our seat belts Obviously we ended up upside down, and everyone was wearing their seat belts as they should have been, including myself .. I remember just hanging there and me and the lady next to me, we got out pretty quick. We were kind of able to just like, unclip, like you would, and then just kind of lower ourselves to be on the ground, which was the roof, I guess. We did it really quickly, like, within stopping we both immediately kind of got our bearings, unclipped, got down.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is leading the investigation. Investigators from the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are assisting.
Editorial credit: Elena Berd / Shutterstock.com
