Video shows Toronto plane's hard landing before flipping

 

The passenger plane that crashed in Toronto appeared to hit the runway hard before bursting into flames and flipping upside down, new video showed Tuesday.

A fireball and thick plumes of black smoke engulfed the Delta Air Lines plane as it skidded to a halt on its roof, but none of the 80 people on board were killed.

The airline said in a statement on Tuesday that "21 injured passengers were initially transported to local hospitals. As of Tuesday morning, 19 have been released."

Paramedic services told AFP on Monday that three people had been critically injured, including a child, a man in his 60s and a woman in her 40s.

The flight with 76 passengers and four crew was landing in the afternoon in Canada's largest city, having flown from Minneapolis in the US state of Minnesota.

Todd Aitken, the airport's fire chief, said late Monday that it was too early to determine the cause of the crash.

"It's really important that we do not speculate. What we can say is the runway was dry and there were no crosswind conditions," he told a news conference.

The video posted to social media and verified by AFP was taken from the cockpit of another jetliner waiting on the tarmac.

It showed the moment the Delta plane hit the ground.

"Oh no no no no no," the pilot is heard saying in the video laced with expletives.

The aircraft came in for what looked like a normal landing when it slammed into the ground, bounced and slid forward in a roll to the right, with its wings sheared off before it stopped on its back.

Flames are seen shooting out from the fuselage the moment it hit the ground, along with billowing black smoke.

Rescue services quickly responded, spraying water at the jet, whose underside was scraped and blackened.

Toronto Airport Authority Chief Executive Deborah Flint said the incident did not involve any other planes.

A massive snowstorm hit eastern Canada on Sunday. Strong winds and bone-chilling temperatures could still be felt in Toronto on Monday when airlines added flights to make up for weekend cancellations due to the storm.

Canada's Transportation Safety Board has deployed a team of investigators to the site of the crash.

They will be assisted by the US Federal Aviation Administration, which also sent a team to the scene, according to US Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy.

Officials at the airport were expected to provide an update on Tuesday.