Plane with 100s aboard on fire
2005-08-02 23:09
Toronto - An Air France passenger jet skidded off a runway and burst into flames at Toronto's Pearson airport on Tuesday, police said.
Unconfirmed reports say there were almost 300 people on the plane, which was on a flight from Paris to Toronto.
Toronto radio station said some passengers were seen climbing from the plane and that most of the others had been safely evacuated.
Black smoke billowed from the wreckage as the aircraft burned.
A row of emergency vehicles lined up behind the wreck, and a fire truck sprayed the flames with water.
The operation was broadcast live on television in Canada and the United States.
The flaming ruin was next to the four-lane Highway 401, Canada's busiest highway, and some cars and trucks stopped on the roadway after the crash.
Police said the plane was an Air France passenger jet that was trying to land when it ran into trouble.
There was a storm - with lightning, strong wind gusts and even hail - in the area at the time.
Leah Walker, a radio reporter in Toronto, said she saw a third of the plane fall and that the rest became a fireball.
"This plane attempted to land in some very fierce weather we had today (on Tuesday)," she said.
The last major jumbo jet crash in North America was on November 12 2001, when American Airlines Flight 587 lost part of its tail and plummeted into a New York City neighbourhood, killing 265 people.
Safety investigators concluded that the crash was caused by the pilot moving the rudder too aggressively.
- AP