Olivier Dubos told CNN there was no advance warning of a problem before the plane burst into flames.
The crew appeared as surprised as any of the passengers, he said.
“We were really scared, actually, when we started to roll in the ravine,” Dubos said. “We could see some flames, and that was where we got really scared. We couldn’t do anything. We were sitting in our seats. We didn’t know if the plane would just blow up.”
He said the flight attendants responded “very efficiently” and pushed people to hit the slides “as fast as possible.”
“A minute before touching ground, there was no more lights in the plane,” he added. “The lights were totally cut off.”
His friend, Roel Bramer, who was seated in the last row of Flight 358 from Paris, said the plane “went up and down like a roller coaster” when it skidded off the runway, and that by the time it came to a stop, the jet was burning.
“You don’t think, you jump,” Bramer said, about hitting the slides. Once on the ground, “I just ran like crazy through the fields over rocks and whatnot.”
His biggest concern was that the plane would explode.
The Airbus A340 was arriving in a driving rainstorm when it overran a runway at Pearson International Airport, smashed into a gully and burst into flames. Witnesses said it appeared lightning may have struck the plane.
All 297 passengers and 12 crew members survived the fiery crash, Canadian authorities and Air France said. (Full story)
Rayed Hantash said his brother, 25-year-old Mohammed Hantash, was on the flight and called him on his cell phone immediately after the crash to tell him he was fine.
“As the plane stopped, they jumped off and made their way across to the highway,” Hantash said. “I’m going to give him a good hug and good kiss and take him home.”
Hospitals treated 43 people for minor injuries after the crash, said Steve Shaw, chairman of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority.
Bruce Farr, the chief of Toronto’s Emergency Medical Service, said some passengers suffered lower limb fractures and smoke inhalation, while others were being assessed for possible spinal injuries. One of the injured was an infant, he added.