In 2019, a plane collided with a fuel tanker at Toronto Pearson International Airport, and passengers on the flight might be to blame.
- 15 of 52 passengers suffered minor injuries, including one infant.
Canada’s Transportation Safety Board said in a new report on the collision that passengers not following safety instructions ignited panic on the plane, which led to the collision, BBC News reports.
- Passengers jumped from plane exits before they were told to do so. This only fueled panic on board. Others grabbed their belongings and jumped from the plane, too. Passengers tried to grab luggage from the overheads. They screamed in fear, BBC News reports.
- One passenger opened the main door exit two minutes before the crash, CTV News reports.
Per BBC News, the report said the pilot couldn’t see the tanker during “critical moments before the collision” due to a combination of “darkness, rain, and reflected light.”
“Many passengers ignored the instructions from the flight attendant to remain seated and calm; some were gathering their bags from the overhead compartments, and some were escalating the panic by yelling that they needed to get out of the aircraft,” the board said, according to The Toronto Sun.