A passenger on board the Delta Air Lines plane that flipped over during a disastrous landing has shared a Snapchat video she filmed while it was upside down.
The passenger flight Delta Flight 4819 dramatically turned over upon arrival at Toronto’s Pearson Airport at around 2.30pm local time (7.30pm BST) on Monday and ended up on its roof, injuring 19 people. Three people, including one child, are in a critical condition.
Three air ambulance helicopters and two critical care ambulances were dispatched to the scene. Though the cause of the crash has not yet been established, it is thought difficult landing conditions could have been a factor. According to the Meteorological Service of Canada, the airport was experiencing blowing snow and cold temperatures of -8.6C at the time.
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One video from the scene – originally shared on the social networking app Snapchat – shows a woman upside down in her seat after the plane came to a halt. A caption reads: “My plane crashed I’m upside down”.
A second part to the clip, filmed once she had left the plane, then shows passengers clambering out of the aeroplane’s upturned door onto the icy runway. The woman, visibly shocked, says at the end: “I was just in a plane crash – oh my god!”.
In a news conference at 7pm local time (12am GMT), the airport’s CEO Deborah Flint said a number of passengers had now been reunited with their friends and family, while others were being kept in a “comfortable” place at the airport. The airport had suspended all arrivals and departures in the immediate aftermath of the crash. Two runways will remain closed as investigations continue.
It is the fourth major aviation incident in North America in the space of only one month. On January 29 an American Airlines plane and a US Army helicopter collided near the nation’s capital, killing 67 people. A medical transportation plane then crashed in Philadelphia two days later, killing the six people on board and another person on the ground. Another 10 people were then killed in a plane crash in Alaska on February 6.
Delta said in an initial statement following Monday’s crash that “initial reports were that there are no fatalities”, adding: “Several customers with injuries were transported to area hospitals. Our primary focus is taking care of those impacted.” Ontario Premier Doug Ford wrote on X (formerly Twitter) last night that he was “relieved there are no casualties after the incident at Toronto Pearson.”
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