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Air Canada flight 624 has crashed on a runway at Halifax Stanfield International Airport in Canada, the airline has confirmed. The plane reportedly hit power lines and sustained extensive damage upon crash-landing. No passengers were killed.


Flight AC624 "exited runway upon landing at Halifax," Air Canada confirmed on Twitter. According to the airline, all passengers have deplaned and are being evacuated to the terminal. The number of people was reported as 138, including 133 passengers and 5 crew members.

"An aircraft made a poor landing," airport spokesman Peter Spurway was quoted as saying by The Chronicle Herald. The crash took place at 12:30 a.m. local time (4:30 a.m. GMT).

No life-threatening injuries were reported from the scene, but many passengers sustained minor cuts and were in a state of shock.

Hospitals are expecting to receive up to 50 injured passengers for medical assistance, CBS News reported. The airport spokesman said that between 23 passengers and crew members had been taken to the hospital by ambulance.

Stanfield has suspended all flights for at least a couple of hours until emergency services have dealt with the incident.


Air Canada flight 624 had just arrived from a 2.5 hour flight from Toronto's Pearson International Airport, according to air traffic website flightaware.com. The aircraft is a twin-jet Airbus A320.

The crash coincided with a sudden power outage at the airport. People awaiting their flights posted pictures of pitch-dark terminals and speculated it might have been caused by the incident. The power was restored some 80 minutes after being cut off.

Initial reports from the scene indicate that the plane was badly damaged. The evacuation of passengers is being hampered by the power lines lying on the tarmac, @LawsonLeeland reported on Twitter.


Distressed relatives and friends contacting the passengers have described them as being in a state of shock. According to reports, they saw a bright flash as the aircraft clipped power lines. One of the wings of the airplane is "completely" torn off.

The incident at Halifax airport comes as the region endures bad weather on Sunday.

"The heavy snowfall and blowing winds have made the road conditions hazardous for driving," Halifax Regional Police warned on Saturday night.

A number of road incidents were reported, with some vehicles getting stuck and preventing snow plows from cleaning the roads.

Spurway, the airport spokesman, said there was no immediate indication that bad weather was a factor in the incident. He added that it was a hard landing rather than a crash, as the plane appeared to have been under the pilot's control during the entire landing.