‘It’s insane that everybody is alive’: Toronto crash survivor recounts experience

Investigators have begun working to identify what caused a Delta Air Lines regional jet to flip on its roof while landing at Canada’s Toronto Pearson Airport, injuring 21 of the 80 people on the flight from Minnesota.

The passenger jet was carrying 76 passengers and four crew members and crashed as it was attempting to land around 2:15 p.m. local time, Delta said in a statement. The CRJ-900 regional jet had departed from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

Peter Koukov, a passenger onboard, recounted the chaotic moments after the crash.

“I didn’t really know anything was wrong until we hit the ground … To me, it didn’t feel like there was anything out of the ordinary, and there was no announcement,” Koukov said.

The plane hit the ground then bounced in the air, almost as if “we were lifting off again,” he said, before the plane turned on its side and ended upside down.

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“It’s pretty crazy. I feel like I stayed pretty calm,” Koukov said. “I didn’t, like, scream or make any noises. And the girl sitting next to me, she’s ex-military, so her and I were, like, both pretty chill.”

They unbuckled quickly from their upside-down seats and lowered themselves to the ground, he said. Though they hadn’t spoken during the flight, Koukov recalled sharing a long hug with his fellow passenger after the crash.

“And then we’re, like, OK, what’s next? We need to get off this plane.”

Twenty-one passengers were transported to area hospitals on Monday, according to Delta, and 19 had been released by Tuesday morning. Of those injured, two adults were taken to two different trauma centers by air ambulance and one child was transported to a children’s hospital, according to local officials.

“If anyone was seriously hurt or dead, it would feel very different. It’s insane that everybody is alive, it’s crazy,” Koukov said, noting the collective calmness of passengers. “It was nice to see people working together.”

Immediately after the crash, Canada’s busiest airport shut down all of its runways. The airport resumed departures and arrivals by 5 p.m. but cancellations and delays have since piled up. The airport’s President and CEO, Deborah Flint, said during a Tuesday press briefing that the longest east-west and north-south runways on the field are expected to remain closed for about 48 hours to accommodate the early stages of the investigation.

Passengers self-evacuated

According to Toronto Airport Fire Chief Todd Aitken, most passengers self-evacuated from the overturned jet before first responders reached the scene.

“I believe that most of the passengers self-evacuated at that time and, upon arrival, they were being escorted to a second location,” he said during a media briefing Tuesday.

Cory Tkatch, a commander of operations for Peel Regional Paramedic Services, said during a media briefing on Tuesday most of the injuries were common issues like back pain, head injuries and headaches, anxiety, vomiting, and nausea due to fuel exposure. According to the airport’s president, none of the injuries, including those of the two people who remain hospitalized, is life-threatening.

Cancellations, delays pile up at Canada’s busiest airport

Toronto Pearson International Airport said on Tuesday that it remains open with flights arriving and departing, but advised passengers to check the status of their flight before heading to the airport.

Over 200 flights in and out of the airport were canceled and 446 others were delayed by Tuesday evening, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking website. On Monday, the airport saw nearly 400 cancellations and 362 delays.

Toronto Pearson International Airport is the nation’s most traveled airport. The facility saw more than 44.8 million passengers in 2023, said the international industry organization Airports Council International. Pearson has five main runways and 30 taxiways, according to the airport’s website.

Crash was the latest major aviation accident in North America

Monday’s crash comes amid heightened scrutiny of air travel following a series of deadly incidents in the U.S. this year.

On Jan. 29, an American Airlines regional jet and a U.S. Army helicopter collided near Washington, D.C., killing 67 people aboard both aircraft. Days later, a Medivac plane crashed in Philadelphia, killing seven people and injuring over 20 others. On Feb. 6, a plane crashed in Alaska as it flew on the state’s western coast, leaving all 10 passengers dead.

Canadian authorities lead investigation into the crash

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada, an agency of the Canadian government, will be in charge of leading the investigation into the cause of the crash.

In a Tuesday evening video update, Senior Investigator Ken Webster said it was too early to know the cause of the accident but that the agency would provide updates as information and analysis became available

“The fuselage came to rest slightly off the right side of the runway, upside down, facing the other direction,” he said.

Footage of the crash shows flames erupt near the plane’s tail shortly after it reaches the ground, with a massive cloud of black smoke trailing behind. Photos of the aftermath show the plane fully overturned as a fire truck hoses down the aircraft.

Investigators continue to analyze the wreckage and the runway, and Webster added that the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder have both already been removed from the scene and sent to a laboratory for further investigation.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board will be involved in the probe, with a team of U.S. investigators assisting Canadian investigators. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement Monday on X that FAA investigators were on their way to Toronto. He added that he has been in touch with his Canadian counterpart to offer assistance with the investigation.

Delta’s incident response team deployed to Toronto Pearson International Airport Monday evening, the airline said in a statement.

Contributing: Nathan Diller and Thao Nguyen, USA TODAY