Cover Story
Reverberations heard as Canada Free Press columnist hears “implosion”By Judi McLeod
Tuesday, August 2, 2005 8:12:41 PM
Toronto-- Canada Free Press columnist Edward Zawadzki, who lives within blocks of Toronto Pearson International Airport, and was writing his column when Air France Flight 358 skidded off a runway near the 401 highway, says he heard a sound “like an implosion”.
“I know there were thunder and lightning storms moving in the area at the time of the accident, but it sounded almost like an implosion and there was a reverberation,” Zawadzki told Cable Pulse 24. “It seemed to me there were 20 minute breaks in the thunder and lightning storms at the time of the accident,” he said.
Flight 358 Air France’s Airbus A340 was on a non-stop flight from Paris to Toronto, carrying 297 passengers and 12 crew. It apparently was landing when it skidded off a runway.
Officials say that were no fatalities. Some of the 24 injured were treated at an airport triage.
Flight 358 skidded off the runway at 4:03 p.m. EST August 2, 2005. Officials say it overshot the runway by 200 meters.
The pilot and co-pilot managed to deplane to safety and all passengers were evacuated before the aircraft burst into flames. Within minutes, one of the co-pilots, who seemed to be staggering from shock and passengers were on the 401 trying to flag down rush-hour traffic.
The raging inferno from the burning aircraft could be seen for miles away, and in the humid Toronto weather, the smell of burning plastic could still be picked up in the downtown core some two and a half hours after the accident.
Hearing a sound like an implosion, Zawadski rushed up to the balcony of a fellow tenant on a higher floor in his Etobicoke high-rise. “Unfortunately too many buildings blocked our view from seeing the actual aircraft, but the plumes of smoke were billowing.”
Passenger Roel Bramar said he saw lightning just as the Flight 358 touched down. “But just as the plane landed the lights went out,” Bramar told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
The aircraft ended up in the Etobicoke Creek ravine beside the 401. With passengers and crew spilling out onto busy 401 rush-hour traffic and motorists stopping to look, authorities had to close down the highway.
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Canada Free Press founding editor Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the media. A former Toronto Sun and Kingston Whig Standard columnist, she has also appeared on Newsmax.com, the Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, and World Net Daily. Judi can be reached at: You can read your Letters to the Editor here.
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