Dozens hurt in Air France Toronto jet crash
03.08.05
An Air France plane with more than 300 people on board has skidded off a runway while landing and burst into flames at Toronto's Pearson airport, injuring 43 people. Witnesses told Canadian television that the plane had apparently skidded off the runway after landing.
There were 297 passengers and 12 crew on board Air France flight 358. Steve Shaw, a vice-president of the Greater Toronto Airport Authority everyone survived but 43 of the passengers suffered minor injuries. 'The passengers were able to flee the aircraft before the fire broke out,' Shaw said. Air France also announced in Paris that there were no fatalities in the crash.
Officials said the plane was an Air France Airbus A340 from Paris that was trying to land at Canada's busiest airport just after 16:00 (20:00 GMT) when it ran into trouble. The Airbus A340 skidded about 200 metres past the runway as it came in to land. There was a storm with lightning and strong wind gusts in the area at the time.
It was too early to say for sure what might have caused the plane to miss the end of the runway. Live TV pictures showed huge clouds of black smoke and orange flames coming from the fuselage of the plane, which was off the end of a runway lying close to a main traffic artery. The flaming ruin was next to the four-lane Highway 401, Canada's busiest highway. Rescue workers got to the plane within about 40 or 50 seconds.
All flights to or from the airport, Canada's largest and busiest, were cancelled or diverted to other cities. Canada's transport minister has called it a "miracle" that over 300 passengers and crew escaped from an Air France jet that skidded off a Toronto runway.
