Three taken to hospital with critical injuries after plane crashes in Toronto

Three people with critical injuries have been taken to to hospital, including a young person, after a Delta Air Lines plane arriving from Minneapolis crashed on the runway at Toronto Pearson Airport on Monday.

In an email, Ornge ambulance service spokesperson Joshua McNamara says one “pediatric patient” is being sent to SickKids hospital with critical injuries.

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McNamara says one man in his 60s with critical injuries was sent to St. Michael’s Hospital and a woman in her 40s, also with critical injuries, was sent to Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

The plane, a Mitsubishi CRJ-900LR, flipped over on the tarmac, and audio recording from the Pearson airport tower shows Delta Air Lines flight 4819 was cleared to land at about 2:10 p.m. ET. The tower warned the pilots of a possible air flow “bump” in the glide path from an aircraft in front of it.

There were no further conversations with the Delta flight until the tower confirmed at 2:12 p.m. that a plane has crashed, with air controllers quickly redirecting traffic to accommodate the crash scene.

The number of critically injured people reported by Ornge is more than those previously reported by a spokesperson for the local paramedic service, who had said one person had critical but non-life-threatening injuries, while seven others were said to have mild to moderate injuries.

Peel Regional Paramedic Services later said at least 19 people have been injured.

Toronto Pearson is aware of an incident upon landing involving a Delta Airlines plane arriving from Minneapolis. Emergency teams are responding. All passengers and crew are accounted for.

— Toronto Pearson (@TorontoPearson) February 17, 2025

The airport said earlier in a social media post that emergency crews are responding to an “incident upon landing” involving a Delta Air Lines plane arriving from Minneapolis.

The post says all passengers and crew are accounted for.

A passenger on the plane, John Nelson, posted photos and a video of the crash on Facebook. In the video the plane can be seen lying upside down on the runway while people are helped from the plane and firefighters spray the fuselage. See the video here.

There was no immediate word on the cause of the crash.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada said it is deploying a team of investigators to Pearson airport and federal Transport Minister Anita Anand said she was closely following the “serious incident.”

Her U.S. counterpart, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, said inspectors from the Federal Aviation Administration were on their way to Toronto and the Canadian investigators would take the lead.

“I’ve been in touch with my counterpart in Canada to offer assistance and help with the investigation,” he said on social media.

After the crash, flights in and out of the airport were temporarily suspended.

A spokesman for Montreal-Trudeau International Airport said it was preparing to receive aircraft originally bound for Toronto.

Eric Forest, a spokesman for airport authority, said several diverted flights were expected in Montreal following the accident.

“Our teams are in action to welcome them,” Forest said in an emailed statement.

At Pearson, confused passengers gathered at terminals amid mixed messaging from airport and airline staff.

At one point, an overhead announcement told everyone to proceed to the exit and baggage claim, but some workers were telling passengers to remain at their gates.

Plane had 76 passengers and four crew on board

Delta Air Lines said in a social media post that the flight was operated by its subsidiary Endeavor Air and had departed from St. Paul International Airport in Minneapolis with 76 passengers and four crew on board.

It said affected passengers’ family members and loved ones can reach out to Delta for more information.

“The hearts of the entire global Delta family are with those affected by today’s incident at Toronto-Pearson International Airport,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian said in the post.

Tracking data from FlightRadar24 shows the same aircraft flew from Cleveland to Minneapolis earlier in the day, and that it was supposed to return to Minneapolis from Toronto.

Dozens of flights were cancelled or delayed Monday out of Pearson due to weather.

The airport posted on X that it had accumulated more than 12 centimetres of snow by 8 a.m. Monday morning and was expecting another 15 centimetres by the end of the day.

Here's a look at part of our airfield this morning as the clean up continues from this weekend's storm.

Our crews worked all weekend to keep the roughly 5 million square metres of airfield clear of snow to keep planes arriving and departing safely. pic.twitter.com/Up75V1LfLK

— Toronto Pearson (@TorontoPearson) February 17, 2025

The airport said: “We’re expecting a busy day in our terminals with over 130,000 travellers on board around 1,000 flights. Airlines are catching up after this weekend’s snowstorm that dumped over 22 cm of snow at the airport. Our airfield team has continued their work throughout the night to clear critical areas so planes can safely arrive and depart.”

Police in eastern and central Ontario are advising people to avoid travel as highway conditions worsen as heavy snow continues to fall across the province.

I’m relieved there are no casualties after the incident at Toronto Pearson. Provincial officials are in contact with the airport and local authorities and will provide any help that’s needed.

— Doug Ford (@fordnation) February 17, 2025

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he’s “relieved there are no casualties” after the crash.

In a post on X, he says provincial officials are in contact with the airport and local authorities and will provide help as needed.

— with files from CKOM News

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