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In what is being heralded as a “total miracle,” a flight attendant survived being thrown from an Air Canada plane after it collided with a fire truck at New York’s LaGuardia Airport late Sunday night.
The aircraft, identified as a Jazz Aviation flight operating on behalf of Air Canada from Montreal, was carrying 72 passengers and four crew members when it collided with a fire truck on the runway while landing, according to officials.
The fire truck had been crossing the tarmac just before midnight after receiving clearance to respond to another aircraft reporting an on-board issue, authorities said. Air traffic control audio captured a controller urgently warning the vehicle to stop moments before the crash.
The impact severed the cockpit, killing the pilot and co-pilot, both based in Canada, and injuring dozens of others. Roughly 40 passengers and crew members, along with two people in the fire truck, were taken to hospitals, officials said.
AIR CANADA JET HITS VEHICLE, FORCING NEW YORK’S LAGUARDIA AIRPORT TO CLOSE
Flight attendant Solange Tremblay was still strapped into her seat when she was ejected from the aircraft during the collision, according to her family.
Tremblay’s daughter, Sarah Lepine, told Canadian news station TVA Nouvelles what happened to her mother was a “total miracle.”
She said her mother had multiple fractures on one leg and will need surgery but was otherwise OK.
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“I’m still trying to understand how all this happened,” Lepine said, “but she definitely has a guardian angel watching over her.”
Aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti said Tremblay’s survival was remarkable given the extent of the damage, particularly to the front of the aircraft.
A former federal crash investigator, Guzzetti told The Associated Press that Tremblay was likely helped by being in a seat with a four-point restraint used by crew members.
“The flight attendant’s seat is kind of a jump seat that folds down and is bolted to the wall, the same wall that the cockpit utilizes,” said Guzzetti.
“It’s a very robust seat,” he added. “It’s designed to withstand probably more crash loads than passenger seats because you need the flight attendant to help passengers get out of an airplane after a crash.”
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Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are examining coordination between air traffic control and ground vehicles as a key focus of the probe. Officials said the runway is expected to remain closed for days as crews sift through extensive debris and analyze recovered flight recorders.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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