Air Canada flight catches fire on landing, all passengers evacuated safely

Ottawa, Dec 29 (PTI) An Air Canada flight coming from St John’s city on Newfoundland Island had a rough landing at the Halifax airport in Goffs in Nova Scotia province that saw the aircraft skid down the runway and part of it catching fire.

A statement issued by the airport said the incident involved Air Canada Flight 2259, which was operated by PAL Airlines, CBC News reported.

The incident happened around 9:30 pm local time. The statement does not say how many people were on the plane.

The people on board were evacuated, and then taken to a hangar to be checked out by paramedics, CBC News said. Due to the incident, the Halifax airport was temporarily closed Saturday night.

A passenger told CBC News that one of the plane’s tyres did not deploy properly upon landing.

“The plane started to sit at about a 20-degree angle to the left and, as that happened, we heard a pretty loud — what almost sounded like a crash sound — as the wing of the plane started to skid along the pavement, along with what I presume was the engine,” she said.

The passenger said the plane then skidded down the runway for a “decent” distance as the pilots worked to stop the plane.

“The plane shook quite a bit and we started seeing fire on the left side of the plane and smoke started coming in the windows,” she said.

The airport said one of its runways has since reopened. PTI