Airport Worker Films Fire After Crash at Toronto's Pearson Airport

Two planes collided near a terminal gate at Pearson International Airport in Toronto, Canada, on Friday, January 5.A Sunwing Vacations aircraft hit a WestJet Boeing 737-800 plane near a gate at terminal three, airport officials confirmed.The Sunwing aircraft had no passengers on board, while the 168 passengers and six crew on board the WestJet plane had to be evacuated from their aircraft on emergency slides, according to the Toronto Star.These videos were taken by Pearson airport worker Michael Halladeen from the terminal tarmac after the collision. The first clip shows smoke billowing from the Sunwing Vacations aircraft as emergency crews attended the scene. Speaking in the video, Halladeen can be heard saying; “Alright look at this; it crashed, the Sunwing into the back of the WestJet and burnt it out. Crazy.” In a second clip, Halladeen filmed the same aircraft later the same evening, after the smoke had largely dispersed. Narrating the clip, he can be heard saying; “Yeah so the fire is over, excitement done. It’s too cold; no more live videos. Yeah.”A spokesman for Pearson Airport confirmed the passengers were evacuated from the plane. In a statement, he wrote: “There has been an aircraft incident involving two aircraft on the Terminal 3 apron. Fire and emergency services have responded and passengers have been evacuated. More details to come.”In a statement on its official Facebook page, a spokesman for WestJet wrote: "We can confirm that WS2425, a Boeing 737-800 with 168 guests and six crew onboard, inbound from Cancun to Toronto Pearson, while waiting to proceed to the gate and stationary, was struck by a Sunwing aircraft pushing back from the gate.“The incident occurred at Toronto Pearson airport this evening at 6:25 p.m. ET.“Due to the position of the aircraft on the laneway, WestJet guests required evacuation via emergency slide. Emergency crews were on hand and responded immediately.“WestJet is in direct contact with the Transportation Safety Board, the GTAA and the various emergency agencies responsible for responding to, and investigating, this incident.“We will provide regular updates as more information becomes available.”In a statement on its official Facebook page, a spokesman for Sunwing Vacations also confirmed the incident.He said: "We are aware of an incident that occurred shortly after 6pm this evening at Toronto Pearson Airport where a Sunwing aircraft under tow came into contact with another aircraft.“There were no Sunwing crew or passengers onboard at the time of the incident. We are awaiting further information from our third party ground handling service provider and will provide more details as they become available.” Credit: Instagram/Michael Halladeen via Storyful