Delta Air Lines says it is offering $30,000 to passengers who were aboard a flight from Minneapolis that crashed and flipped upside down while landing in Toronto on Monday.
A spokesperson for the company says the Delta Care Team is telling passengers that “this gesture has no strings attached and does not affect rights.”
All of the 80 people on board Flight 4819 — 76 passengers and four crew members — survived the fiery crash. As of Wednesday morning, 20 of the 21 passengers who were taken to local hospitals had been released.
Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian spoke to CBS Mornings amid the ongoing investigation, saying the plane — which was operated by Delta Air Lines subsidiary Endeavor Air — had an experienced crew on board who were trained for any condition.
John Nelson, one of the passengers, captured the scene as he climbed out of the upside-down plane. He says there was a hard landing and the plane skidded on its side before flipping on its back.
In an interview with Canadian broadcaster CBC News, passenger Pete Carlson described the touchdown as a “forceful event, where all of a sudden everything just kind of went sideways.”
Carlson had fastened his seatbelt, as instructed, prior to landing. When he unlatched the belt to evacuate the plane, he said he “crashed down onto the ceiling, which had become the floor.”
The crash is under investigation by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada. Investigators from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration are also on site, according to Pearson Airport CEO Deborah Flint.
