Toronto (Antara Bali/Xinhua-OANA) - An Air Canada flight from Toronto skidded off the runway while attempting to land at the airport in Halifax, Nova Scotia, during a snowstorm early Sunday, leaving dozens hurt but not seriously.
The Airbus A320 was carrying 133 passengers and five crew. Police and the airport said 25 people were taken to hospital with non life-threatening injuries.
However, an Air Canada update said 23 passengers and crew were hospitalized, and by Sunday afternoon all but one of the admitted have been released.
"We at Air Canada are greatly relieved that no one was critically injured. We will also fully cooperate with the Transportation Safety Board as it begins an investigation to determine the cause," Klaus Goersch, the airline's Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, said in a statement.
Local media reported it was snowing heavily when the accident occurred at around 00:43 a.m. local time. Goersch said it was safe for flight AC624 to land in snowy weather, and the cause for crash landing was still unclear.
Some passengers on board believed the plane hit a power line while descending. However, Halifax airport spokesperson Peter Spurway said he cannot confirm it was related to the crash. Power lines are down on the south side of the airport. Spurway said "the airplane made a bad landing." A passenger said the plane was circling the airport for at least 30 minutes waiting for a good time to land. As the plane was coming down, there was "a big flash." (WDY)
