Air Canada AC624 crash: How events are playing out on social media
Yet another winter storm system was the least of the worries for travellers headed to Nova Scotia late Saturday night.
Travellers waiting for flights at Halifax Stanfield International Airport first reported power outages between 12:30 and 1 a.m. AT.
Not long after that, CBC reporter Chris Ensing received word that a plane had crash landed on the runway during landing.
Greg Wright was at the airport to pick up his 13-year-old son.
When Wright's son called him and said the plane had crashed on the runway, he first thought it was a joke.
One passenger reported seeing a flash of light and other passengers noticed power cut out at the airport below. That's when the plane hit the ground, bounced, struck the ground again and crash landed.
While most people referred to the event as a crash landing, Air Canada called it an "incident," with airport officials saying it was an "abrupt" or "hard" landing.
Some people on Twitter took issue with the terms being used in statements from the airport and Air Canada.
Meanwhile, it was reported that 23 of the 132 passengers on the flight were sent to hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries sustained in the crash.
Around 8 a.m. AT Sunday, Air Canada tweeted that 18 of those 23 passengers were released from hospital. No word on the extent of injuries.
The landing is under investigation by federal authorities and the exact cause is unknown, but some people on social media expressed concerns over air travel safety.
But as operations resumed and flights started moving again at the Halifax airport, some passengers expressed confidence in their safety flying out of the airport the same day.
