MARCH 29, 2015
It was a frightening landing for passengers on Air Canada
Flight 624 arriving in Halifax from Toronto early Sunday morning.
The plane made a “hard landing” as it skidded off
a runway at Halifax Stanfield International Airport during a
snowstorm.
Air Canada confirmed 23 passengers and crew were sent
to hospital, but there were no serious injuries reported and 18 have since been
released. Thirteen were sent to Capital Health-run hospitals while 10 were sent
to either the IWK Health Centre in Halifax or the Colchester Regional Hospital
in Truro, N.S
AC624 had 133 passengers and five crew members on board.
It’s believed the plane hit a power line and then skidded, leading to a mass
power outage at the airport. A direct link between the power outage and the
hard landing have not been confirmed by airport officials.
The airplane was an Airbus A320, the same type involved in the
deliberate crashing of a Germanwings flight over France last week.
Air Canada said more of its management
staff have arrived in Halifax on Sunday to help, but did not
confirm how many.
Officials from the Transportation Safety Board
are coming from Ottawa and expect to hold a news conference at 6
p.m.
He says the Airport Authority can’t comment on the RCMP or
TSB investigation, they can only give updates on the runway conditions and
airport operations.
Airport spokesman Peter Spurway said the airport was closed
to all traffic after the accident.
“We don’t know if weather was a factor,” Spurway said.
“Crews had been clearing snow all day.”
Confirms AC624, YYZ-YHZ exited runway upon landing at
Halifax. All passengers have deplaned, going to terminal. More updates to come.
— Air Canada (@AirCanada) March 29, 2015
Passenger Gordon Murray said he was calm despite the
horrific experience.
“We just hit hard and things broke up,” he said. He added
he feels fortunate to be alive considering what could have been.
“Just before we hit there was a big ball of light. It hit
like a hard landing and we bounced and we skidded.”
This couple was on the plane, said the plane circled for 30
min before trying to land. #Halifax pic.twitter.com/cczJOU6Xf4
— Julia Wong (@JWongGlobalNews) March 29, 2015
Eleven-year-old Leon Yu wasn’t sure what was happening at
the time, but recalls the plane “sliding everywhere.”
“A couple minutes later they just told us to get out of the
plane,” he said.
"It was just sliding everywhere then a couple minutes
later they just told us to get out of the plane" Leon Yu says pic.twitter.com/QKKfWmm9vv
— Julia Wong (@JWongGlobalNews) March 29, 2015
Some passengers told Global News they saw an engine fall off
during the landing. “The airplane hit so hard the running gear all came off,
both sets of wheels, then the engines got torn off,” passenger Randy Hall said.
Officials say the investigation into what led #AC624 to make
a hard landing @HfxStanfield is currently underway @globalhalifax #Halifax
— Natasha Pace (@NatashaPace) March 29, 2015
“It was surreal,” Wayne Ezekial of St. Andrews, N.S., said.
“It was almost like I was in a movie looking forward and my first concern was
the plane was gonna start breaking apart and the second thing was it was gonna
catch fire.”
Spurway says the plane was under control when it made
contact with the runway. Federal investigators have been called in to probe the
incident.
RT @hfxstanfield: Again, operations are resuming. Expect
changes to flight schedules, please check ahead.
— RCMP, Nova Scotia (@RCMPNS) March 29, 2015
Power was restored to the airport overnight and operations
are resuming, but significant delays are expected.
As of 10 a.m. on Sunday, the airport said there was an issue
preventing airlines from updating flight schedules on its website, and
passengers were being advised to call their airlines directly for the latest
information.
In a prepared statement, Transportation Minister Lisa Raitt
thanked first responders for the “quick and decisive action.”
“Transport Canada continues to monitor the situation and the
Transportation Safety Board is on scene. I understand that the airport
will be reviewing their response to the incident and I look forward to the
results. We will let the proper
authorities determine the cause of this incident.”
Source: http://globalnews.ca