Toronto Pearson International Airport experienced “extreme” weather before a Delta Air Lines plane crash-landed and flipped upside-down — including a year’s worth of snow in just two days, Canadian aviation authorities said Tuesday.
Two passengers remain in the hospital following the crash Monday of the Bombardier CRJ-900LR passenger jet, which had taken off from Minneapolis. All 80 people aboard miraculously survived.
“So many factors led us to have gratitude today,” Toronto Pearson International Airport CEO Deborah Flint said.
She called the survival of all passengers and crew “really incredible.”
In all, 21 passengers were hurt, with injuries ranging from minor to “critical but not life-threatening,” according to Flint.
Of those, 19 have been released from local hospitals, with two still undergoing treatment. None of the survivors’ injuries were life-threatening, she said.
She declined to say whether one of the passengers that remained hospitalized was the child survivor flown to SickKids children’s hospital in Toronto Monday.
Flint said the airport and surrounding areas faced “extreme conditions” in the days leading up to the crash, including two separate snowstorms on Thursday and Sunday which brought more than 20 inches of accumulation — a “not typical” snow event that saw more snow fall than the entirety of last winter.
On Thursday, 221 of 974 scheduled flights at Toronto Pearson were canceled due to the storm, while 371 of 987 were canceled on Sunday. Flint said Monday, the day of the crash, was an “operational recovery day” — but that 462 cancelations were logged out of 1,006 scheduled flights due in part to the crash.
Toronto Airport Fire Chief Todd Aitken told reporters that the department executed a “textbook response,” using foam and dry chemicals to knock down spot fires and douse the jet fuel to clear an exit for passengers.
Aitken said most of the passengers “self-evacuated.”
Cory Tkatch, from the Peel Regional Paramedic Services, said first responders were faced with a “multitude of injuries” upon approaching the flipped-over jet, including “back sprains, head injuries, anxiety, some headaches, nausea and vomiting” due to fuel exposure.
He didn’t provide much information about the injuries of survivors deemed to be in “critical condition” in the immediate aftermath, but said such decisions are determined based on their vital signs or complaints like head injuries.
Flint said members of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, as well as the US Federal Aviation Administration, Delta Air Lines and Mitsubishi were all on-site Tuesday to aid in the investigation, and that the derelict aircraft will likely be removed from its position within the next 48 hours.
Two Toronto Pearson runways will remain closed until the jet can be taken away, she said.
Delta Flight 4819, operated by the airline’s subsidiary Endeavor Air, took off from Minneapolis about 11:47 a.m. and crashed at about 2:15 p.m.
Comments