Passengers were terrified after an aircraft collision caused a fire.
Passengers were forced to evacuate via emergency slides in the freezing cold on Friday night after two planes collided on the ground at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport.
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 back from a gate.
WestJet said their plane, which had just landed from Cancun, was stationary when it was hit by the Sunwing aircraft
Passengers were forced to evacuate via emergency slides from the inbound WestJest flight from Cancun, Mexico
The incident took place at 6:19pm last night. According to a WestJet spokeswoman, there are unconfirmed reports of minor injuries.
Passengers on the plane were terrified as they saw flames, with many screaming and standing up.
There were calls for passengers to stay in their seats.
Another person says, ‘Calm down, that’s not our plane on fire.’
Another shocking video then shows emergency services tackling the fires.
Passengers aboard the WestJet plane can be heard screaming and panicking as they watch the flames at Toronto Pearson International Airport
The damage to the rear of the Sunwing plane at Toronto Pearson International Airport after the collision
Passengers could be heard screaming after the collision caused a fire
The video shows flames on the wing of the WestJet plane after the collision.
Shocking photos show the damage to the tail end of the Sunwing aircraft.
Gustavo Lobo, a passenger on the WestJet flight, said passengers heard a crunch. ‘Out of nowhere there was an audible crunch and the plane rocked slightly,’ reports CBC News.
‘We looked out the window and saw that the plane had backed up into us. Everyone was a little shocked and kind of chuckling at the situation.’
‘Panic set in when [we saw] what seemed to be fuel spewing from the crash. After a couple of seconds the entire thing ignited and it was chaos inside the plane.
‘People screaming and panicking all while the flight attendants shouted to try and control the situation.’
The smoke and flames after the collision. One passenger said ‘out of nowhere there was an audible crunch and the plane rocked slightly’
Sunwing said there were no crew members on its aircraft, and it was being towed by the airline’s ground handling service provider at the time of the incident
Spokeswoman Lauren Stewart said the WestJet passengers were evacuated from the aircraft via emergency slides and all were safely in the terminal and clearing customs shortly after the collision.
‘Due to the position of the aircraft on the laneway, WestJet guests required evacuation via emergency slide. Emergency crews were on hand and responded immediately,’ Westjet said in a statement.
Sunwing said there were no crew members or passengers aboard its aircraft. It was being towed by the airline’s ground handling service provider at the time of the incident.
The Greater Toronto Airports Authority said fire crews extinguished a small fire on the Sunwing aircraft and some flight operations were affected by the incident
Canada’s Transportation Safety Board said it is investigating.