Authorities at Canada’s busiest airport say there was no loss of life after a Delta jet crashed Monday afternoon. 18 people were injured, three of them critically, when a C-R-J-900 regional jet crashed on landing at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport. Air travel this morning at Pearson has returned to normal but officials say delays are expected for the next few days.
The incident took place at about 2:15 in the afternoon as Delta subsidiary Endeavour Air Flight 4819 approached for landing. The plane was en route from Minneapolis to Toronto with 76 passengers and 4 crew members aboard. Here is some of the audio from Toronto’s air traffic control, as well as from one of the passengers.
“Clear to land 23 Endeavour 4819. This airplane just crashed 23. We just landed. Our plane crashed. It’s upside down. There’s people outside walking around the aircraft, yeah we’ve got it the aircraft is upside down and burning.”
Upon landing the regional jet flipped over landing upside down with its wings sheared off.It was immediately surrounded by emergency responders.
Delta officials confirm 18 people were taken to hospitals, three were reported in critical condition, one of them a child airlifted to Toronto’s Sick Children’s Hospital in the city’s downtown.
Deborah Flint is the CEO of the Greater Toronto Airport Authority, she had this to say on the event.
“First and foremost there was no loss of life, and this is in part due to our heroic and trained professionals, our first responders at the airport. Airport emergency workers mounted a textbook response, reaching the site within minutes and quickly evacuating the passengers. We stood up our emergency operations center with Delta Airlines and representatives from fire, police, paramedics, security, and our federal agency partners,” Flint said.
All flights in and out of Pearson were shut down for several hours, and diverted to other airports, including Ottawa and Hamilton, as hundreds of travelers were left in limbo.
Flint says everything is being done to care for the passengers of Flight 4819, some have already been reunited with family and friends.
“In closing no airport CEO wants to have these types of press conferences but this is exactly what our emergency, our operations, and our first responder partners are all practiced and trained for, and I thank them profusely,” Flint said.
Two of the runways will remain closed for the next few days. A team from the US National Transportation Safety Board will be assisting Transport Canada in the investigation into the crash.
