"Our plane crashed. It's upside down."
These were the shocking words of John Nelson, a passenger on a Delta Air Lines flight that crash-landed and flipped over while touching down at Toronto Pearson International Airport.
Despite the dramatic incident, the airport's chief executive reported that all 80 people on board—76 passengers and four crew members—survived. Eighteen passengers sustained injuries. Local paramedics reported that three individuals—a child, a man in his 60s, and a woman in her 40s—were seriously hurt, though officials confirmed that no one had critical injuries.
"Most people appear to be okay. We're all getting off," Nelson said in a Facebook video posted shortly after the crash.
Later, he told CNN how the landing initially seemed routine. "There was no indication of anything unusual before we touched down," he recalled. "We skidded on our side, then flipped over on our back. There was a big fireball out the left side of the plane."
Like Nelson, fellow passenger Ashley Zook quickly took to social media to share her disbelief, filming herself saying, "I was just in a plane crash. Oh my God."
Passengers Trapped Upside Down
Those on board found themselves in a terrifying predicament.
"We were upside down, hanging like bats," passenger Peter Koukov told CNN.
Another passenger, Pete Carlson, described the disorienting moment to CBC: "One minute you're landing, expecting to see your friends and family, and the next minute you're physically upside down."
Nelson managed to unbuckle himself and push off to the floor, helping others as they struggled to free themselves. "Some people were hanging and needed help, while others were able to get down on their own," he said.
Despite the chaos, Carlson noted that passengers quickly banded together. "Suddenly, everyone on that plane became very close—helping one another, consoling one another," he said.
Escape and Aftermath
Video footage from the scene showed passengers climbing out of the overturned aircraft as fire crews doused it with foam. Airport staff assisted people out of the plane’s doors, with some running away from the wreckage.
Oddly enough, Diane Perry, who was inside the airport at the time, only learned about the crash when her family called her. "It was kind of ironic that we were at the airport and had no idea there was a crash happening outside," she told the BBC.
The cause of the accident remains unknown. Two runways will remain closed for several days as investigations continue, and passengers should expect delays.
For Nelson, the experience is still sinking in. "I'm stressed, nervous, shaky still," he admitted to CNN. "It's amazing that we're still here."
Carlson echoed that sentiment, grateful to be alive despite sporting a fresh cut on his head. "I'm a little balder than I was this morning," he joked.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment