TORONTO, Aug 3: An Air France transatlantic jetliner with 309 people aboard overshot the runway at Toronto international airport and exploded after plunging into a muddy ravine, but with flames licking around the fuselage and smoke filling the cabin all passengers and crew made a desperate escape. Canadian officials said 43 people were treated for minor injuries in the fireball landing, which occurred late on Tuesday in stormy weather.

Canadian Transport minister Jean Lapierre said it was a “miracle” that no one was killed in the accident which left the Airbus A340 jet a burning wreck some 200 metres from the runway.

It was the first operational accident involving the A340 four-engined, ultra long-haul jet in 13 years of commercial service. Air France boss Cyril Spinetta told a news conference in Paris that the plane — a relatively new A340-300 delivered in 1999 — left the French capital with no sign of technical problem. It had last been inspected July 5.

As it approached Canada, Toronto’s Pearson International Airport was closed because of violent storms in the region, but authorities reopened the runways shortly before the Air France plane arrived in the airspace, he said.

Air France executive director Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, sitting next to him, said the aircraft “was probably the first to land after the reopening of the runways, which were closed a maximum of 30 minutes.” At first, the landing appeared to go normally, despite the blustery winds and thundery skies. Passengers applauded as they touched down.

But suddenly there was a loud jolt and the aircraft ran 200 meters past the end of the runway and ploughed into the wooded gulley. Passengers quickly hurtled down toboggan escape chutes and raced for safety seconds before the wreckage was engulfed in enormous fireballs. One of the survivors was a nine-month-old child.

“As soon as the plane stopped, they immediately opened the side of the plane where they couldn’t see any flames, and then they told us to jump,” said passenger Olivier Dubois. “And we all began jumping and running. We were running really fast... It was really, really scary. Very, very scary.”

Another passenger, journalist Gilles Medioni, said that when the plane touched down “Everything was happening very quickly. People got up from their seats. There was a smell of smoke, of kerosene and people looked for the emergency exits.”

Some believed the plane had been hit by lightning

But Gourgeon said: “I don’t think there was any lightning strike.”

The landing itself had been “normal,” he said. “But there was probably a lot of water on the runway,” and the weather was “severe.” Spinetta said the four-engined plane was in the hands of its 43-year-old co-pilot — a man with “very solid experience” and 10,700 hours of flying time — at the time of the landing.

Asked whether there was disagreement between the Air France cockpit crew and Canadian air traffic control over the opportunity to land in the storm, Spinetta responded: “It doesn’t seem so, but I say that with caution.”—AFP