A plane crashed and overturned upon landing at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada. The airport's CEO stated that all passengers and crew members on board survived, which is undoubtedly fortunate in the midst of misfortune.
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03-12, 2025Deborah Flint of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority said, "We are very grateful that there were no fatalities, only relatively minor injuries." However, emergency services reported that one child and two adults sustained serious injuries in the accident and are currently receiving treatment.
Images circulating on social media show an overturned aircraft with its fuselage upside down on a snow-covered tarmac, with at least one wing missing. Toronto Pearson International Airport stated that the aircraft involved was a Delta Air Lines flight arriving from Minneapolis with 80 people on board, including 76 passengers and 4 crew members. A total of 18 passengers were taken to hospital for treatment.
Ornge, Ontario's air ambulance service, said it dispatched three air ambulance helicopters and two land ambulances to the scene. Among the injured, those seriously injured included a child, a man in his 60s, and a woman in her 40s. Ms. Flint praised the first responders' "textbook" response at an evening news conference, believing their efforts ensured no one was killed.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said the aircraft involved was Delta Air Lines Flight 4819, operated by its subsidiary Endeavor Air. Delta Air Lines also confirmed that a CRJ900 aircraft was involved in an incident at Toronto Pearson International Airport around 2:15 p.m. ET on Monday (19:15 GMT). Ms. Flint revealed that there were 22 Canadian passengers on board, with the remaining passengers from various countries.
The airport was closed shortly after the accident, but flights in and out of Toronto Pearson Airport resumed around 5 p.m. local time. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada said it has dispatched a team to "gather information and assess the occurrence." Two runways will be closed for several days for investigation, and passengers have been told to expect some delays.
Toronto Pearson Fire Chief Todd Aitken said Monday night that while the investigation is in its early stages, it can be determined that "the runway was dry and there was no crosswind." This contradicts earlier reports of gusts exceeding 64 kilometers per hour (40 miles per hour) and the presence of crosswinds.
Video footage shared on social media showed people climbing out of the overturned plane, with firefighters spraying foam on the aircraft. A man in a video taken from outside the overturned plane said: "We're in Toronto, we just landed. Our plane crashed, it's upside down." The video showed airport staff helping passengers out of the plane's doors, with some then running away from the plane's entrance. "Most people look okay. We're all getting off, there's some smoke," he could be heard saying.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said provincial officials have contacted the airport and local authorities and will provide any assistance necessary. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said he was "grateful for the first responders and professionals on the scene."
The airport's arrival and departure boards showed a large number of flight delays and cancellations after the accident. Some passengers told the BBC they were now stuck in Toronto for several days as their flights had been cancelled and there were no available flights on Monday or Tuesday. James and Andrea Turner were in customs – located before the departure gates – when they were suddenly told to evacuate. "They evacuated everyone from customs into security and then put everyone back out into the regular area," James said, adding that the departure lounge was therefore very crowded. The couple were supposed to be on the plane that crashed on the runway. Their flight was subsequently cancelled – the third delay in their journey, which had previously been rescheduled due to bad weather.
Toronto Pearson International Airport has experienced weather-related delays for the past few days, with parts of Ontario hit by heavy snow and freezing temperatures. Two storms on Wednesday and Sunday brought a total of 30-50 cm (11.8-19.6 inches) of snow to the city. The BBC's U.S. partner CBS reported that it was snowing lightly at the time of the crash. Earlier on Monday, the airport warned that "bitterly cold temperatures and high winds are approaching." The airport said it was expecting "a busy day" as airlines were "catching up on flight delays from this weekend's snowstorm, which dumped over 22 cm of snow on the airport."
