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'All I Could Do Was Pray'
Emergency personnel inspect the charred wreckage of Air France Flight 358 in Toronto after it skidded into a ravine during a heavy rainstorm and lightning alert.
(By J.p. Moczulski -- Reuters)
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Passengers said that although the final descent was bumpy, they were not instructed to brace themselves. Unbeknownst to them, the airport was under a red alert, which indicates a potential lightning storm but does not prevent planes from landing or taking off.
"I've never experienced such a fast speed on landing," Dubois said. "Suddenly it was bumping and shaking and we could see the flames coming from outside while we were rolling off-road."
Investigators from Canada's Transportation Safety Board began combing through the wreckage at the end of Runway 24L. The team recovered the aircraft's black boxes, the cockpit voice and flight data recorders, and said they would be sent to Ottawa, the Canadian capital, to be examined.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board also sent a representative because the engines were made in conjunction with General Electric, a U.S. firm.
Chief investigator Real Levasseur said the probe into the cause of the crash could take a year or longer.
The majority of the passengers were Canadian or French; 14 were American.
"Horror, horror. Just looking back at the plane and the whole thing, just black smoke coming out of it . . . we couldn't believe that thing happened," Johnny Abedrabbo, who was sitting in first class, told CBC Television.
Staff writer Sara Kehaulani Goo contributed to this report.
