HALIFAX -- Air Canada says it was safe for pilots to land a plane in Halifax that crashed early Sunday morning during a snowstorm.
Chief operating officer Klaus Goersch says the pilots flying AC624 circled above the Halifax airport for a period of time but the weather was safe for them to land.
"It was safe to fly in this weather. The aircraft did circle for a period of time but when the approach was initiated, the weather was at the approach limits," Goersch told a news conference.
"The weather was appropriate for landing."
The plane, which left Toronto just before 9 p.m. Saturday, landed hard and skidded off a runway Sunday at 12:43 a.m. AT, Air Canada said.
There were 133 passengers and five crew members aboard at the time. Goersch said 25 people were taken to hospital and all but one of them have been released.
Passengers say they ran away from the wreck and huddled in the cold and the snow for about an hour before emergency crews arrived.
One passenger said he and others were afraid the plane might catch fire or explode on the runway.
"There was a liquid and it smelled like kerosene," he told CTV Atlantic. "There were sparks and there was smoke, so we were worried about it."
Goersch said the plane did not lose any fuel during the landing. He also said each pilot has been working at Air Canada for 15 years and have “many years” experience flying the A320 Airbus.
"All of us at Air Canada are greatly relieved that there have been no critical injuries as a result of this incident," he said.
"It obviously has been very unsettling for our customers and their families and we have been working very hard with them to take care of them and see after their needs."
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is investigating and will interview the crew and “certain people within the airline” in order to determine what happened, Goersch said.
-- with files from CTVNews.ca and CTV Montreal
Below is a Canadian Press map showing the location of the airport.
