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Toronto Airport Returns to Normal After Air France Crash

Posted on: Thursday, 4 August 2005, 09:00 CDT

Toronto airport returns to normal after Air France crash

OTTAWA, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- Traffic in and out of Toronto's Pearson International Airport was slowly returning to normal Wednesday morning, while investigators began probe into Tuesday's fiery crash of an Air France passenger jet which left 43 on board injured.

Air Canada said in a news release that it was resuming domestic Canada and trans-border US flights to and from Toronto on Wednesday but some delays and a limited number of cancellations to and from Toronto were expected.

The airline cancelled many of its flights Tuesday in the wake of the accident, in which an Airbus A340 overshot the east-west Runway 24L by about 200 meters and plunged into a wooded ravine near Highway 401.

All 309 passengers and crew made it out of the airplane before it became enveloped in flames, with only 43 minor injuries reported.

The runway 24L will stay closed while investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada and Air France examine the scene.

There were reports that heavy rain, lightning and dangerous winds all played a factor in the accident. But it could be months before the ultimate cause of the accident is known.

Experts warned that it was too early to come to any conclusions about the cause of the accident. "The most important thing in these sorts of tragedies is to be very thorough and to get the right answers," Cliff MacKay of the Air Transport Association of Canada told a local TV program.

"Quick answers quite often don't lead you to the right conclusions and don't improve safety," he said.

The Airbus A340 that crashed Tuesday has a good safety record -- it is the first plane to crash since manufacturer Airbus introduced the aircraft more than a decade ago.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

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