An Air France passenger jet skidded off the end of the runway and burst into flames after landing in a thunder storm at Toronto's Pearson International Airport today, media reports said.
Air France says that according to latest information, no one died in the Toronto plane crash.
A Canadian official also said no one was killed.
The Canadian airport authority said 14 people suffered minor injuries in the crash.
The airline said 297 passengers and 12 crew were aboard the plane.
Witnesses said the plane was cut in two and at least two fireballs were seen coming from the debris after the crash.
The long haul A340 jet, which can carry up to 250 people, overshot the runway and crashed into trees and bushes in a gully that separates the airport perimeter from a busy highway.
Thick flames and black smoke billowed from the jet and fire crews were at the scene.
The incident occurred when there were heavy thunder storms across the region. The airport had suspended departures and arrivals for a while because of the storm.
Passengers who survived the crash said the A-340 jet was probably hit by lightning.
"I saw lightning," passenger Roel Bramar told CNN television. "Maybe the plane had already been hit by lightning," he said.
"The reason I'm mentioning that is because just as we landed, the lights turned off. And that's unusual. So I'm sure that the bad weather was responsible," said Bramar.
A witness, Corey Marks, told CNN he saw the jet land and get into trouble at about 4.00pm (0600 AEST).
"It was getting really dark and all of a sudden lightning was happening, there was a lot of rain coming down," he said.
"And this plane - I didn't see the size of the plane but it was an Air France plane - came in on the runway. Everything looked and sounded good. It hit the runway nice and all of a sudden, we heard his engines backing up."
Marks said the jet "went straight into the valley and cracked in half.
Whatever you're seeing now, you're probably seeing the back end of the plane because it's way down in there.
"Two of us that were standing here, we were about to run over and try to help, but it went up in such flames." Marks said he saw two fireballs come from the plane.
A Toronto radio station said some passengers were seen climbing from the plane, and that most of the others had been safely evacuated.
AM 680, an all-news station, reported live from the scene that there were two explosions on the plane. The station quoted a police official on the nearby freeway as saying two groups of passengers had been evacuated from the jet.
A portion of the plane's wing could be seen jutting from the trees as smoke and flames poured from the middle of its broken fuselage. At one point, another huge plume of smoke emerged from the wreckage, but it wasn't clear whether it was from an explosion.
CNN reported the flight was Air France Flight 358, which was due to arrive in Toronto about 4pm from Charles de Gaulle International Airport near Paris.
"They made an approach in weather that was worse than what they anticipated," John Wiley, a retired Airbus pilot in Toronto, told CNN.
Leah Walker, a radio reporter in Toronto, said she saw a third of the plane fall and that the rest became a fireball. "This plane attempted to land in some very fierce weather we had today," she said.
AFP
Its great no one was killed! a miracle really, but i just love the reporting, and witness comments! "it must have been hit by lightning!"
engines backing up ?