Plane Crash in Toronto

[strandinthewind]

from cnn.com

TORONTO, Canada (CNN) -- Firefighters are battling a blaze on board an international passenger jet that overran a runway at Tornoto's Pearson International Airport.

"This plane came off the runway. It slid off the runway and into this gully," said Toronto radio reporter Leah Walker, who witnessed the crash. "It's come off with probably a great amount of force into trees and the creek."

She said a fireball engulfed the plane. The Associated Press reported 200 passengers were on board the Airbus 340.

A fire department spokesman said there were reports that some people were taken to hospitals, but he could not confirm information on casualties. Canada's Global Television network said the pilot and co-pilot survived.

One passenger, Olivier Dubos told reporters: "We had absolutely no insight or hint that the landing would be difficult. Power went out just before we landed...we thought it had to do with the rain."

Flight 358 was scheduled to arrive from Paris's Charles de Gaulle International Airport at 3:35 p.m. ET. Severe thunderstorms had occurred in the area beforehand.

Another witness, Corey Marx, said, "Everything looked good, sounded good. It hit the runway nice, then all of a sudden we heard the engines backing up."

Marx said he initially didn't think anything was wrong. But then, "The guy I was with piped up, 'You know, he's getting pretty close to the end.' Immediately afterward, right off he went."

The plane fell into a valley at the end of the runway and cracked in half, Marx said.

Vito Porto, a freelance photographer, told Global television that an explosion occurred after the crash, throwing debris for several hundred feet.

Smoke billowed from the site, as scores of emergency workers sought to put out the fire with foam.

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They also have a pic showing flames coming out of just the section right in front of the tail.