NEWS: Air France A340 Catches Fire, 291 Passengers Believed Safe

An Air France A340 has crashed on a Toronto runway. The plane rolled off the runway and into the runway that runs parallel to Route 401. There are believed to be 14 minor injuries and no fatalities. Casualties have been taken to the Memorial Hospital in Toronto.





The plane is believed to be an Air France A340 which overshot the runway by 200 metres. The aircraft tried to land during a heavy thunderstorm and heavy rain, it is believed they contributed to the loss of control.

Casualties are being debriefed and numerous eyewitness statements have described a scene of chaos. Passengers were evacuated through the chutes on each door.

[edit on 3-8-2005 by John bull 1]

[edit on 3-8-2005 by John bull 1]

I hear it's an Air France plane.

The plane is an Air France A340 and not a Luftansa 737 like CNN is reporting. The Air France A340 overshot the runway in a heavy thunderstorm with near zero visibility at approximately 3:30PM local time (Toronoto).

Lufthansa doesn't operate a 737 service to the US, or so I saw on other forums.

Pictures look terrible.

It's an Airfrance, disputes regarding whether it was a crash on take off or landing.

Watching a live feed now. Don't see anyone moving off the plane, but lots of black smoke. No word on survivors yet.

Saying a prayer for the folks on board.

Wow! This is incredible! I don't think this plane simply ran off the runway and exploded. I would hope planes are built better than that.

I feel horible for all those that died in this tragic accident.

I think this "could" be a terror act? We will know if something else happens within the next hour or so.

Toronto would be a good soft target in the extremist muslim holy war.

FOX is saying it was an Airbus A340 Air France flight from Paris to Toronto and crashed on landing.

They are saying that the winds were NNW at 28mph with gusts of 38mph with the thunderstorms -- They are also saying that the airport was closed and that Air Canada had grounded all of it's flights before this happened. I wonder if they didn't have enough fuel to divert this plane perhaps.

The pictures are devastating -- it looks like they are just getting the fire trucks to the area now and putting foam on it.



[edit on 2-8-2005 by justme1640]

Originally posted by djohnsto77
FOX is saying it was an Airbus A340 Air France flight from Paris to Toronto and crashed on landing.

Fox News is about as credible as WorldNews daily! LOL

Originally posted by djohnsto77
FOX is saying it was an Airbus A340 Air France flight from Paris to Toronto and crashed on landing.

Confirmed. It was the weather that caused it. Very heavy rain, lightning, unsure whether the plane was hit though.

they're saying "severe thunderstorms" and possibly "wind shear"

reuters reporting A340 - regular flight from paris to toronto

Weird... the info I just heard said it was upon landing that it could not stop and skidded off the runway.

I guess we have to remember that details are still being gathered and people are obviously panicked over there, so we'll probably hear a more solid story soon.

eye witness`s report the plane was hit by lightning and burst into flames - apparantly before landing

They are reporting as Air France Flight 358 (daily flight)

From FlightArrivals.com...

Air France - AFR 358
- - -

Paris Charles-de-Gaulle Aug 02 01:15 PM Departed 73° F

Toronto Aug 02 04:07 PM Landed 73° F, mostly cloudy skies, Light rain with thunder

There are reports that there may be survivors -- a news station in Toronto is reporting that people are walking out of the gully. This is being reported on MSNBC right now -- I think they referred to the Toronto Station as being 680. Perhaps someone can find a link to that.

Some Canadian television channel they were rebroadcasting on FOX says that the pilot and copilot are alive.

Air France flight 358 from paris to toronto

here is link to Toronto Radio Station...

www.680news.com...

This is very reminiscent to the Delta 191 flight at DFW 20 years ago today.
The Crash Of Delta 191

The details are almost uncannily similar!