OAN Staff Abril Elfi
12:50 PM – Sunday, December 29, 2024
A plane made an emergency landing without landing gear and caught on fire while sliding down the runway at a Canadian airport.
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On Saturday, Air Canada Flight 2259 coming from St. Johns caught on fire when its wheels did not properly deploy during landing, CBC reported.
Air Canada spokesperson Peter Fitzpatrick spoke with the Toronto Star and stated that the flight experienced a “suspected landing gear issue,” but none of the 73 passengers were seriously injured.
A passenger of the plane, Nikki Valentine, described the incident to CBC.
“The plane started to sit at about a 20-degree angle to the left and, as that happened, we heard a pretty loud – what almost sounded like a crash sound – as the wing of the plane started to skid along the pavement, along with what I presume was the engine,” Valentine said. “’The plane shook quite a bit and we started seeing fire on the left side of the plane and smoke started coming in the windows.”
She continued stating that the plane was skidding down the runway for a “decent span of time” as the pilots tried to sort out the incident.
Valentine reported that it took almost two minutes for everyone to exit the jet, which was then largely enveloped in flames, after it had stopped. When passengers got off the plane, they were placed aboard a bus.
In order for emergency personnel to put out the fire and remove the aircraft off the runway, Halifax Airport was closed for around 90 minutes after the incident. Four planes were diverted during this time, and several more had major delays or cancellations.
Before regular operations resumed, the runway underwent extensive inspections, according to airport officials.
The incident comes just hours after a South Korean plane skidded down the runway and collided with a wall, bursting into flames and killing 179 people.
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