Two aircraft crashed on the ground near their terminal gates at Toronto Pearson International Airport overnight Friday January 5, 2018. Passengers were initially instructed to “remain seated” while flames erupted from the wing tip on the starboard (right) side of a WestJet aircraft.
Passengers eventually were evacuated to the ground via emergency slides Friday night after two planes collided on the ground near the terminal at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport. No injuries were reported by passengers or crew members, but there was an injury reported to an emergency personnel member.
Fire erupts and passengers scream after two planes collide at Toronto airport. Passengers had to evacuate using emergency slides pic.twitter.com/Gkb6pyA5r7
— Sky News (@SkyNews) January 6, 2018
WestJet said an inbound from Cancun, Mexico with 168 passengers and a crew of six was stationary and waiting to go to a gate when it was struck by a Sunwing aircraft moving backwards while leaving a gate.
Cellphone video captured and posted to Instagram account @stephen_belford shows flames coming from the wing tip and panic inside the cabin.
Airport emergency crews responded immediately and assisted with the evacuation.
Sunwing reorted there were no crew members or passengers aboard their aircraft, which was being towed by the airline’s ground handling service provider at the time of the incident.
Canada’s Transportation Safety Board (TSB) said it is deploying a team of investigators following a collision between two aircraft at the Toronto Pearson Airport, Ontario. The TSB said it “will gather information and assess the occurrence.”
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Passengers were forced to evacuate via emergency slides in the frigid cold on after two planes collided on the ground at Toronto's Pearson International Airport.
Read more: https://t.co/f7SB9ZH5CQ pic.twitter.com/xVmETkjv8Z
— NBC News (@NBCNews) January 6, 2018
Airliners collide at Toronto's Pearson Airport, passengers safe https://t.co/133CIYz4jE pic.twitter.com/6ZnqNXF5KK
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) January 6, 2018
##BREAKING Two planes clipped wing & tail. Sunwing tail caught fire. A Westjet aircraft evacuated via slides. No injuries reported. Toronto Pearson Fire on scene. pic.twitter.com/iOTQlfwRwq
— Tom Podolec (@TomPodolec) January 5, 2018