(TORONTO) — New video has emerged on Tuesday of the chaotic moments after Delta flight 4819 flipped over on the runway at Toronto Pearson International Airport.
In the video — obtained exclusively by ABC News — passengers can be seen hanging upside down in the cabin, being held into their seats dangling only by their seatbelts.
There were no warning signs for the passengers aboard Delta Flight 4819, as the 76 passengers and four crew approached a snowy Toronto Pearson International Airport on Monday afternoon, according to passenger John Nelson.
“The winds were whipping pretty hard and the runways were snow covered,” Nelson recounted to ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos. “There was no warning.”
As the plane’s wheels touched the tarmac, Nelson described hitting the runway “extremely hard,” the aircraft popping slightly into the air, and the entire plane learning to the left.
“It was just incredibly fast. There was a giant firewall down the side. I could actually feel the heat through the glass,” Nelson recounted.“Then we were going sideways. I’m not even sure how many times we tumbled, but we ended upside down,” he said.
When the plane finally came to a stop, Nelson recounted that the cabin was suddenly quiet before the 80 people onboard — most of whom were hanging upside down bats in the cabin – attempted to “make a sense of what just had happened.”
“We released the seat belts. I kind of fell to the floor, which is now the ceiling, and helped the lady next to me get out of her seat belt,” Nelson said.
According to Nelson, the flight attendants immediately took control, directing passengers to exit the cabin and opening the emergency doors.
“You heard the flight attendants yelling, ‘Open the door. Everybody, take your stuff and get out now,’” he recounted. “We all worked together and got out of there as quickly as we could.”
According to Nelson, the scene was surprisingly “calm” as passengers assisted each other to crawl out of the plane and find their phones.
When he made it out the plane, Nelson took out his phone to capture the moment as every passenger and crew on the flight made it out alive.
“We’re in Toronto. We just landed. Our plane crashed. It’s upside down. Fire Department is on site. Upside down. Most people appear to be okay, we’re all getting off,” he said while shooting the video, which has been seen by millions over the last 24 hours.
“What was going through your mind? Could you believe you’d survived a crash?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“No, it’s something that I don’t think you can ever even really prepare for,” Nelson recounted. “As we were tumbling … I tried to just keep from hitting my head right, and just trying to protect myself and my body. I was trying to, just to do the best to make it through it.”
Peter Koukov, who was also able to shoot video as he crawled out, said he didn’t know something was wrong until they hit the ground.
“We hit the ground and we were sideways, and then we were hanging upside down like bats,” Koukov told ABC News. “It all happened pretty, pretty fast. The plane was upside down, obviously, some people were kind of hanging and needed some help being helped down.”
The flight crew can be seen standing on the ceiling helping passengers scramble to escape in the video.
“The one minute you’re landing and kind of waiting to see your friends and your people and the next minute you’re physically upside down and just really turned around,” Pete Carlson, a passenger on the plane, told ABC News. “It sounded, I mean, it was just cement and metal, you know.”
The Delta regional jet, a CRJ 900 aircraft operated by Endeavor Air, departed from Minneapolis on Monday afternoon, heading to Toronto with 76 passengers and four crew landing just after 2 p.m. local time.
“All of a sudden the fire trucks and helicopters, you know, pushed out on a trolley and thought there was something wrong,” said Ron James, an eyewitness who saw the smoke right before he was supposed to board his flight at a nearby terminal. “Then we were going to get on the plane and they said no you’re not going anywhere.”
At least 18 passengers were taken to hospitals, airport officials said in an update Monday evening.
Peel Regional Paramedic Services said none of the injuries were considered to be life-threatening.
Three people suffered critical injuries — one child, a man in his 60s and a woman in her 40s — according to Ornge, which provides medical transport. The child was transported to the Hospital for Sick Children and is listed in good condition, the hospital said Monday evening.
Among the others, 12 people have mild injuries, Peel Regional Paramedics Services said.
“Airport emergency workers mounted a textbook response, reaching the site within minutes,” said Deborah Flint, president and CEO of Toronto Pearson International Airport. “This outcome is in due part to their heroic work, and I thank them profusely.”
At the time of landing, winds were gusting up to 40 mph but the cause of the crash is still under investigation.
“This is an active investigation. It’s very early on,” said Todd Aitken, fire chief at Toronto Pearson International Airport. “It’s really important that we do not speculate. What we can say is the runway was dry and there was no crosswind conditions.”
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