Delta flight overturns at Toronto Pearson Airport upon landing, leaving 18 injured

A Delta Airlines aircraft from Minneapolis has crashed upon landing at Toronto Pearson Airport on Monday, officials confirmed. Witnesses captured the shocking footage of the aircraft overturned on the runway.  

The flight, identified as Delta 4819 and operated by Endeavor Air for Delta Connection, was a Bombardier CRJ-900, a regional jet used for short-haul routes. According to the sources, all 80 passengers and crew escaped, though 18 got injured, including three in critical condition.  

The video from inside the plane went viral overnight which shows the moment passengers ended up upside down after the crash landing of the plane in Toronto. The clip, uploaded by a passenger named Ashley Zook, was filmed moments after the flight crashed and overturned on the snow-swept runway.  

While posting the video on social media, Ashley wrote, “My plane crashed. I’m upside down.” Several other videos and photos followed on Snapchat, showing panicked passengers escaping the plane one at a time, with Ashley still visibly in shock as she said, “Oh my God, I was just in a plane crash”.

Other passengers, including John Nelson also went viral after he shared videos online saying that the ‘typical flight’ from Minneapolis to Toronto turned bad after they realised that the runways were in kind of a weird condition. Some passengers also noted that they were left hanging like bats after the plane crashed. 

What caused Delta flight’s crash at Toronto airport? 

Authorities said that it presently unclear what caused the plane to topple and catch fire, but they are conducting investigations to determine the same. The initial communications between the tower and pilot were normal on approach but it is being thought that weather might have played a huge factor in the crash.  

The Meteorological Service of Canada reported that the airport was experiencing snow and winds up to 40mph with temperatures as low as –8.6 Celsius.  

Meanwhile, the CEO of the Toronto Pearson Airport Deborah Flint credited the ‘textbook response’ of first responders for ensuring that no lives were lost. However, she said that two runways will remain closed for the next few days as investigators look into the cause of the crash.  

This incident comes less than three weeks after an American Airlines plane collided midair with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter while on its way to Washington DC's Reagan National Airport, and on the heels of deadly Jeju Air and Azerbaijan Airlines accidents in December.