Chaos erupted at a Canadian airport after a plane experienced landing problems and went up in flames as it slide down the runway. Luckily, only minor injuries were reported.
Halifax Stanfield International Airport was shut down on Saturday night because an Air Canada flight from St. Johns caught on fire when its wheels did not properly deploy during landing, CBC reported.
A passenger of Air Canada Flight 2259, which was operated by PAL Airlines, described the horrifying event.
Nikki Valentine told CBC: ‘The plane started to sit at about a 20-degree angle to the left and, as that happened, we heard a pretty loud – what almost sounded like a crash sound – as the wing of the plane started to skid along the pavement, along with what I presume was the engine.
‘The plane shook quite a bit and we started seeing fire on the left side of the plane and smoke started coming in the windows.’
She said the plane roughly skid down the runway for a ‘decent’ span of time as pilots frantically tried to rectify the situation, which occurred around 9:30 pm.
Once the aircraft came to a stop, Valentine said it took about two minutes for everyone to get off the plane – which was partially engulfed in flames at that point. Passengers were loaded onto a bus after they exited the aircraft.
An Air Canada plane experienced landing problems and went up in flames as is it slide down the runway
Shocking footage showed the plane seemingly loosing control as it skid down the runway while the aircraft started burning
Shocking footage shows the plane on fire as one of its wing drags down the runway, creating a loud screeching sound.
‘One side of the entire plane was on fire, so everyone was pretty much in a hurry to get off, but an organized hurry,’ she told CBC.
Air Canada spokesperson Peter Fitzpatrick said to the Toronto Star that the flight experienced a ‘suspected landing gear issue,’ but none of the 73 passengers were seriously harmed.
A spokesperson from the Nova Scotia Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), which responded to the scene alongside paramedics, said minor injuries were reported.
One of the airport’s runways has been re-opened since the shocking landing. The incident is being investigated to determine what exactly went wrong.
The Air Canada plane malfunction came just hours after a South Korean passenger plane skid down the runway and collided with a concrete wall, killing at least 85 people, according to the Associated Press.
The Jeju Air flight was returning from Bangkok when the gut-wrenching scene unfolded at Muan International Airport.
No one was seriously harmed in the incident, which is under investigation
The 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 jet’s front landing gear reportedly failed to deploy.
Lee Jeong-hyeon, chief of the Muan fire station, said the plane was totally wrecked and that firemen were searching for bodies scattered around the runway from the impact.
At least 32 fire trucks and multiple helicopters responded to the crash to try and contain the Sunday morning (local time) fire.
