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All aboard survive Airbus Canada crash
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-08-03 07:03
TORONTO (Reuters) - An Air France Airbus burst into flames after overshooting the runway while landing at Toronto's Pearson International Airport in a storm on Tuesday, but all 309 passengers and crew survived.
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| An Air France Airbus burst into flames after apparently skidding off the runway at Toronto's Pearson International Airport on Tuesday, aviation officials said. [Reuters] |
Steve Shaw of the Greater Toronto Airport Authority said there were "no known fatalities" among the 297 passengers and 12 crew aboard the packed plane. All aboard were evacuated before the fire took hold, he said.
Witnesses said the plane may have been hit by lightning as it came into land and crashed into a gully. Officials said the airport had been under a "red alert" because of the danger of lightning.
Survivors said they "ran like crazy" from the wreckage.
"We were running really fast to get out of there," Olivier Dubos said on CNN.
Canadian television quoted police as saying that the pilot and a number of passengers been taken to hospital. A Canadian reporter said two busloads of passengers were taken into downtown Toronto from the crash site. CBC Radio said 14 people had been treated for minor injuries
An Air France Airbus burns after overshooting the runway while landing at Toronto's Pearson International Airport in a storm August 2, 2005. All 309 passengers and crew survived after the Airbus burst into flames when it overshot the runway and crashed into a gully. [Reuters] |
An Air France ticket agent said the plane was its AF358 flight from Paris to Toronto, an Airbus A340 .
"An Air France plane landing on runway 2-4 went off the end of the runway in the area of Convair Drive and the 401 area in Mississauga," Peel police Sgt. Glyn Griffiths said.
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