Passengers on a flight that crashed while landing in Toronto are open about a horrifying ordeal.
Pete Koukoff was turned upside down after crashing on the runway at Toronto Pearson International Airport on Monday, February 17th.
“Until the moment we hit the ground, I didn’t realize anything wrong,” Koukov said today, February 18th.
“I was just staring down, looking down, seeing sparks, flames, and what was shattering into the ground,” he continued. “It happened pretty quickly and we were hanging from our seatbelts and just upside down.”
All 80 people were evacuated after the collision, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
At least 18 people were injured in the crash, with no deaths, according to NBC News. Two people were airlifted to a trauma centre and one child was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital.
Koukov shared an Instagram video of the covered plane and showed footage of people helping each other out the door on a snowy runway.
When the plane turned over, Koukov said everyone was “just hanging there,” and was hung with his seatbelt.
At first, Koukov said that the crew told the passengers not to leave their seats, making it all clear that everyone would be obsessed with its departure.
“At that point, people were feeling pretty desperate,” Koukov recalled. “Most people needed help from people who were already coming down, but then we moved slowly off the plane. It seemed pretty organized… nobody But it got off in a rather neat way.”
Authorities said the cause of the crash was not yet known. According to the FAA, Canada’s Road Safety Board will lead an investigation into crash crashes.
By the time of the collision, there was a gust of wind on the runway approaching 40 mph, and snow was blowing.
Despite the chaotic scenes filmed in the video, the plane carrying 76 passengers and four crew members fell over onto the roof while landing at Toronto airport on Monday , the injured did not die.
The Delta Connection Flight 4819 is operated on Endeavor Air using a CRJ-900 aircraft and was on the way from Minneapolis to Toronto.
“The minds of the entire Global Delta family are with those affected by today’s incident at Toronto Pearson International Airport,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian said in a statement Monday night. I’ve said that. “I would like to thank so many Delta and Endeavor team members and the site’s first responders.”
Delta sent an incident response team to Toronto airport, including people who “provides support for customers and their loved ones,” the company said on X-Post on Monday evening.
This story first appeared on Today.com. More from today:
Several people were injured after being involved in the “incident” when a Delta flight from Minneapolis landed at Toronto Pearson Airport. The plane turned upside down.
