TORONTO, Feb 18 — A Delta Air Lines regional jet flipped upside down upon landing at Canada's Toronto Pearson Airport yesterday amid windy weather following a snowstorm, injuring 18 of the 80 people on board, officials said.
Three people on the flight that originated at Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport suffered critical injuries, among them a child, authorities added.
US carrier Delta said a CRJ900 aircraft operated by its Endeavor Air subsidiary was involved in a single-aircraft accident with 76 passengers and four crew members on board. The 16-year-old CRJ900, made by Canada's Bombardier and powered by GE Aerospace engines, can seat up to 90 people.
Canadian authorities said they would investigate the cause of the crash, which was not yet known.
Passenger John Nelson posted a video of the aftermath on Facebook, showing a fire engine spraying water on the plane that was lying belly-up on the snow-covered tarmac.
He later told CNN there was no indication of anything unusual before landing.
"We hit the ground, and we were sideways, and then we were upside down," Nelson told the television network.
"I was able to just unbuckle and sort of fall and push myself to the ground. And then some people were kind of hanging and needed some help being helped down, and others were able to get down on their own," he said.
Pearson Airport said earlier on Monday it was dealing with high winds and frigid temperatures as airlines attempted to catch up with missed flights after a weekend snowstorm dumped more than 22 cm of snow at the airport.
The Delta plane touched down in Toronto at 2.13 pm local time after an 86-minute flight and came to rest near the intersection of runway 23 and runway 15, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24.
"The aircraft is upside down and burning," an emergency worker told the air traffic control tower after a controller noted that some passengers were walking near the crashed plane, according to a recording of the incident posted on liveatc.net.
Deborah Flint, president of the Toronto airport, attributed to the absence of fatalities in part to the work of first responders at the airport.
"We are very grateful that there is no loss of life and relatively minor injuries," she said at a press conference.
The Toronto airport was shut down for more than two hours before departures and arrivals resumed.
— Reuters
