Fire on runway: Air Canada flight skids during landing in Halifax, all passengers safe

An Air Canada flight originating from St. John's, Newfoundland Island, had a rough landing at Halifax Stanfield International Airport in Goffs, Nova Scotia, on Saturday night. The aircraft skidded along the runway, with part of it catching fire.   

The incident involved Air Canada Flight 2259, operated by PAL Airlines, and occurred around 9:30 PM local time, according to a statement issued by the airport and reported by CBC News. The statement did not specify how many people were on board.  

Passengers were evacuated from the aircraft and escorted to a hangar, where paramedics conducted checks. The airport temporarily shut down but has since reopened one of its runways.  

A passenger recounted the dramatic moments to CBC News, saying, “One of the plane’s tyres did not deploy properly upon landing. The plane started to sit at about a 20-degree angle to the left and, as that happened, we heard a pretty loud—what almost sounded like a crash sound—as the wing of the plane started to skid along the pavement, along with what I presume was the engine.”  

She described how the plane skidded for a considerable distance as the pilots worked to bring it to a stop. “The plane shook quite a bit, and we started seeing fire on the left side of the plane, and smoke started coming in the windows,” she added.  

This is the third aviation incident in less than a week. On Sunday, a Jeju Air flight carrying 181 people burst into flames after crashing at South Korea's Muan International Airport, killing 179, including four crew members.  

Earlier this week, an Embraer 190 operated by Azerbaijan Airlines crashed while attempting to land in Aktau, Kazakhstan. The flight, en route from Baku to Grozny, was diverted for reasons still unclear. The crash killed 38 people and left all 29 survivors injured.  

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev today claimed that the crash was caused by ground fire from Russian territory. "Our plane was shot down by accident," Aliyev told state television on Sunday, adding that the plane had come under some sort of electronic jamming and had then been shot at while it was approaching the southern Russian city of Grozny.