Updated: 05:01 PM EDT
Passenger Jet on Fire in Toronto

ABC News

The Air France jet encountered trouble while landing Tuesday in Toronto, police said.

TORONTO (Aug. 2) - A passenger jetliner caught fire Tuesday after skidding off a runway in a fierce thunderstorm at Pearson airport in Toronto. Black smoke billowed from the wreckage as the aircraft burned.

A row of emergency vehicles lined up behind the wreck, and a fire truck sprayed the flames with water. The operation was broadcast live on television in Canada and the United States.

The flaming ruin was next to the four-lane Highway 401, Canada's busiest highway, and some cars and trucks stopped on the roadway after the crash.

There was no immediate word on casualties.

Police said the plane was an Air France passenger jet that was trying to land when it ran into trouble. There was a storm - with lightning, strong wind gusts and even hail - in the area at the time.

Police Sgt. Glyn Griffiths said it was not know if any passengers had been taken from the plane.

Leah Walker, a radio reporter in Toronto, said she saw a third of the plane fall and that the rest became a fireball. ''This plane attempted to land in some very fierce weather we had today,'' she said.

The last major jumbo jet crash in North America was on Nov. 12, 2001, when American Airlines Flight 587 lost part of its tail and plummeted into a New York City neighborhood, killing 265 people. Safety investigators concluded that the crash was caused by the pilot moving the rudder too aggressively.


AP-NY-08-02-05 16:41 EDT