A Delta Airlines plane crash-landed and overturned while arriving at Toronto Pearson International Airport on February 17.
Miraculously, all 76 passengers and four crew members survived the accident. However, 18 people sustained injuries, with only a few reported to have suffered more serious harm.
“We are very grateful there was no loss of life and relatively minor injuries,” said Deborah Flint, CEO of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority.
One of the passengers on board the flight from Minneapolis to Toronto, John Nelson, recounted the terrifying experience of the plane flipping over upon landing.
Speaking to ABC News, Nelson described the intense conditions, saying, “The winds were whipping pretty hard and the runways were snow covered. There was no warning.”
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He recalled that the aircraft struck the ground with extreme force before bouncing slightly and tilting to the left.
“It was just incredibly fast. There was a giant firewall down the side. I could actually feel the heat through the glass,” Nelson recounted. “Then we were going sideways. I’m not even sure how many times we tumbled, but we ended upside down,” he told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos.
In another interview with CNN, he described the chaos onboard, saying, “It was a surreal feeling. And then everyone was just like, ‘Get out! Get out! Get out!’”
He added, “We could smell jet fuel. Even now I smell like jet fuel.”
Fortunately, all passengers and crew members managed to evacuate before the fire spread further.
Many have expressed amazement that the plane did not erupt into flames upon impact.
“The fact this plane did not explode in flames because of the amount of jet fuel is nothing short of a miracle,” one person commented on YouTube. “Thank god all the souls on this flight survived.”
