Incredible

The air crash in Toronto earlier this afternoon is simply an amazing story. An Air France jet had problems on landing but seemed to get down OK, only to skid off the end of the runway. It was a stormy day, with lightning strikes all around that may have had something to do with it, but flames were reportedly soon everywhere. The plane came to a rest near the 401 highway, the busiest in Canada. Somehow, all 309 passengers, pilots, and crew got out; 43 of them were taken to the hospital, but none of the injuries were reported to be serious. On Nightline tonight, ABC's aviation expert, John J. Nance, said matter-of-factly that this was a survivable crash and it should be expected that most, if not all, passengers would make it through safely. That may be so, but it still seems just short of a miracle to me. It'll take investigators some time to figure out what actually happened. In the meantime, you can click through to a photo gallery at CBC, and CTV offers some other angles.