Delta Air Lines is offering $30,000 to each passenger aboard Delta Flight 4819, which burst into flames upon landing and flipped upside down while arriving in Toronto from Minneapolis earlier this week.
All 80 people on the flight, including 76 passengers and four crew members, survived after the plane crash-landed at Toronto Pearson International Airport at around 2:30 p.m. on Monday.
If all passengers accept the payment, which a Delta spokesperson tells NBC News has “no strings attached,” the airline will pay about $2.3 million in total. The survivors can still file lawsuits against Delta, even if they take the $30,000.
Delta Air Lines plane after the crash landing. Photo by GEOFF ROBINS/AFP via Getty Images
Twenty-one passengers were taken to the hospital, all without life-threatening injuries, per the New York Times.
Corey Tkatch, commander of operations for the area’s paramedic services, said during a press conference on Tuesday that the passengers who required medical care suffered back sprains, head injuries, anxiety, and nausea due to fuel exposure. By Thursday morning, the final passenger had left the hospital, per USA Today.
One survivor, Boulder, Colorado resident Peter Koukov, told CNN that he didn’t realize anything was wrong until the plane hit the ground and turned sideways. When the aircraft came to a stop, “we were upside down hanging like bats,” Koukov said.
Another passenger, Minnesota paramedic Peter Carlson, told CBC that in “a blink” he “was upside down and still strapped in.”
Toronto Pearson International Airport President and CEO Deborah Flint stated on Tuesday that the investigation into the crash is ongoing and that the cause is still unknown.
As of Thursday, the investigation is still ongoing, according to USA Today.
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