A Delta Air Lines regional jet crashed at Toronto Pearson International Airport on Monday afternoon in an incident that resulted in the plane flipping over on the airfield.
There were no fatalities reported. Delta confirmed 21 people were taken to area hospitals with injuries, and 19 had been released as of Tuesday morning.
As of Monday evening, the cause of the single-aircraft crash was unknown.
“There was no loss of life. This is in due part to our heroic and trained professionals, our first responders at the airport,” Toronto Pearson President and CEO Deborah Flint said at a brief news conference, where she did not take questions.
Images from the scene showed that the plane came to rest upside-down without its wings intact and that emergency vehicles were present upon the landing. All 80 people aboard were evacuated, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
“At this time, we do not know of any of those passengers having critical injuries,” Flint said.
In a statement, Delta said Flight 4819, operated by Endeavor Air, was on its way to Toronto from Minneapolis/St. Paul on Monday morning with 76 passengers and four crew members aboard. The incident occurred at around 2:30 p.m.
Flint confirmed that 22 of the 80 people onboard were Canadian; she did not specify how many were American.
Flint said some families had already been reunited at the airport, while others were waiting for their loved ones.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian in a social media post said “the hearts of the entire global Delta family are with those affected” and thanked the Delta and Endeavor team members and first responders on site.
Credit: John Nelson / Face
Credit: John Nelson / Face
The aircraft, a CRJ-900LR regional jet, had been flying for about 16 years, according to FlightAware.com.
The last time a Delta aircraft was involved in a serious crash was in 2015, when a plane skidded off a runway at New York-LaGuardia Airport. There were no serious injuries in that incident.
Endeavor is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Delta based in Minneapolis and one of the key carriers that operates regional jets as Delta Connection flights. Formerly known as Pinnacle Airlines, Delta invested in the carrier in 2013 and later renamed it Endeavor.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is in charge of the incident investigation, with assistance from the National Transportation Safety Board.
Prior to the crash, Toronto Pearson had said that crews had worked “all weekend” to clear the airfield after a winter storm there. Forecasts at the airport Monday showed high winds and frigid temperatures.
While he wouldn’t comment about the investigation, Toronto Airport Fire Chief Todd Aitken said the runway was dry and there were no cross-wind conditions.
The Association of Flight Attendants, the union that represents flight attendants at Endeavor Air, also deployed to the scene.
Peel Regional Police Superintendent Waheed Butt said that they would continue to provide security and assistance in the area as needed.
Credit: John Nelson / Face
Credit: John Nelson / Face
Flights resumed at Toronto Pearson as of about 5 p.m. Flint said two runways around the incident area will remain closed while the investigation continues.
Delta canceled its flights to and from the airport for the rest of Monday and issued a travel waiver.
— Staff writer Kelly Yamanouchi contributed to this article.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include the latest total of passengers transported to hospitals with injuries.
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