Toronto plane crash: At least 18 injured as Delta jet flips upside down during landing

A plane crashed at Toronto Pearson International Airport on Tuesday and injured at least 18 people, officials said.

The crash happened in high winds following a snow storm. Source: AP / CTV

Key Points

• A passenger plane crashed and flipped upside down while landing at an airport in Toronto.
• Toronto had been experiencing strong winds and a snowstorm before the crash.
• No cause of the accident, or how the plane ended up flipped with its wings clipped, has been provided.

A Delta Air Lines flight flipped upside down upon landing at Toronto Pearson Airport on Tuesday amid windy weather following a snowstorm, injuring at least 18 of the 80 people on board, officials said.

Three people, including a child, suffered critical injuries.

Delta said a CRJ900 aircraft operated by its Endeavor Air subsidiary was involved in a single-aircraft accident with 76 passengers and four crew aboard. The CRJ900, made by Canada's Bombardier, can seat up to 90 people.

The cause of the crash was unknown.

A social media user posted a video of the aftermath, showing a fire engine spraying water on the plane that was lying belly-up on the snow-covered tarmac.

"We're in Toronto. We just landed. Our plane crashed. It's upside down. The fire department is on site. Upside down. Everybody, most people appear to be OK. We're all getting off. Some smoke going on," Facebook user John Nelson narrated in the video.

Pearson Airport said earlier on Tuesday it was dealing with high winds and frigid temperatures as airlines tried to catch up with missed flights after a weekend snowstorm dumped over 22cm of snow at the airport.

Of the 18 people injured, two were airlifted to trauma centres, and a child was transported to a children's hospital, said Lawrence Saindon, a supervisor at Peel Regional Paramedic Services.

The remaining were taken to hospital.

"We have no fatalities and we have all crew and passengers accounted for," Saindon said.

The airport was shut down for 90 minutes before departures and arrivals resumed.

The plane is a Bombardier CRJ900, which can hold up to 90 people. Source: AP / Teresa Barbieri

This led to ground delays and diversions to other airports including Montreal's Trudeau International Airport, which said it was preparing to receive several diverted flights that might cause further delays.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) said it was deploying a team of investigators, and the United States National Transportation Safety Board said their investigators would assist Canada's TSB.

The crash in Canada followed other recent crashes in North America in late January. An Army helicopter collided with a passenger jet in Washington, killing 67 people, while at least seven people died when a medical transport plane crashed in Philadelphia.