Three people walked away uninjured after a small plane crashed near a high school in Toronto’s east end on Monday night, officials say.
The plane crashed outside Monarch Park Collegiate Institute in the area of Hanson Street and Coxwell Avenue, according to Toronto Fire Chief Jim Jessop. Firefighters were called to the scene shortly after 8:15 p.m.
When crews arrived, they found that the plane had crashed into a fence in a parking lot beside a grandstand.
Three people, believed to in their mid 30s to mid 40s, were on board. They were assessed on scene by Toronto paramedics.
Jessop told reporters near the scene that the crash site is near a soccer field, but no one on the ground playing soccer was injured.
“We were very fortunate tonight. When I was back at the scene, and you look at the amount of people on that field, playing soccer and we got very lucky tonight,” Jessop said.
“The plane crashed into the fence…. It appears to me that it came through the trees and then landed on the ground and skidded into the fence. So certainly we were very, very fortunate that it did not land or crash onto the field with all of those people playing soccer,” he added.
Firefighters can be seen gathered around a small plane that crashed in Toronto on Monday night. (Jacob Estrin/CBC)
Crews are cleaning up the leaking fuel and Jessop said there is no risk to the public.
Toronto Fire Services has notified the Transport Canada and the Toronto District School Board.
Jessop said he doesn’t know why the plane landed where it did.
“This is rare,” he said. “To see a plane crash land into the heart of the city … is something I have not seen in my close to 30 years and it is extremely rare. We are very, very fortunate that there were no injuries, that have turned out the way it did because it could have been a lot worse.”
Police and firefighters were on scene on Monday night investigating.
Witness recalls hearing ‘big crashing sound’
David Sydney-Cariglia said he was playing soccer in St. Patrick’s field when he saw the plane flying low from the west to the east. It was about 60 to 90 metres in the air, he said.
“It was getting lower. All of a sudden, it was out of sight and then we heard a big crashing sound. Next thing you know, we came to see that it had rested just over here close to Monarch Park field,” he said.
“It’s not every day that you see planes this low. We knew immediately that something was wrong.”
He said at the point, police and paramedics were on their way.
The plane crashed outside Monarch Park Collegiate Institute in the area of Hanson Street and Coxwell Avenue on Monday night. (Submitted by Ewan Rapley)