VOR NEWS – A Delta Air Lines Bombardier CRJ900 from Minneapolis has crashed and flipped upside down at Toronto Pearson Airport. All 80 people aboard Delta flight 4819 were evacuated with eight people being injured, though the extent of the injuries is unclear.
Emergency responders rushed to Toronto Pearson Airport on Monday around 2:45 p.m. local time, details about the injured passengers conditions have not been shared. Peel Regional Police confirmed the Greater Toronto Airports Authority is handling the investigation.
Images shared on social media appeared to show the plane flipped upside down, with at least one wing missing. Delta stated the aircraft was carrying 76 passengers and four crew members.
“Initial reports indicate no fatalities,” Delta said in a statement. “Some passengers with injuries were taken to local hospitals. Our focus is on supporting those affected.”
Ontario’s air ambulance service, Ornge, confirmed three individuals were taken to Toronto hospitals with critical injuries. These included a child, a man in his 60s, and a woman in her 40s.
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posted online that investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration were heading to Toronto, while Canada’s Transportation Safety Board would lead the investigation.
The flight, Delta 4819, was a Bombardier CRJ900 operated by Endeavor Air, a regional subsidiary of Delta. It had been travelling from Minneapolis. Flights at Toronto Pearson were halted due to the incident, and there’s no word yet on when they’ll resume. The airport remains closed at this time.
Delta Air Lines advised passengers travelling through Toronto to check their flight status through the Delta app for updates.
A String of Recent Aviation Incidents
This accident comes just weeks after an American Airlines flight collided with a Black Hawk helicopter near Washington D.C., resulting in 67 fatalities.
The Toronto crash adds to growing concerns about aviation safety. While this particular event occurred in Canada, the aircraft was operated by an American airline under FAA regulations.
On Monday, reports emerged that the Trump administration had terminated hundreds of FAA employees, including those working in safety roles. Among them was Jason King, who had been investigating the recent helicopter collision in Washington.
The Delta and American Airlines incidents are part of a troubling series of events. Just last December, an Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed in Kazakhstan on Christmas Day, killing 38 people. A few days later, a Jeju Air flight in South Korea went down, with 179 fatalities reported.
In January, a small plane crashed in Pennsylvania, killing seven people, and an Alaskan regional plane crash in early February claimed 10 lives.
These events have raised questions about safety standards and oversight within the aviation industry worldwide.
