Delta Airlines plane skidded off an icy runway and into the snow at JFK on Sunday, prompting a temporary closure of the entire airport, authorities said.
There were no immediate reports of injuries after Delta Connections Flight 4100, which originated from Toronto, touched down on runway No. 22L shortly before 8 a.m.
“As the aircraft was exiting the runway onto a taxiway, it slid into the snow,” said FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen. “No injuries were reported to the FAA. The FAA is investigating.”
There were 35 people on board the CRJ2 craft, which was towed into the gate. Passengers got off the flight at about 9:29 a.m, according to flight records.
“It could have been a lot worse,” said a relieved Jordan Houlton, a third-row passenger aboard Flight 4100. “We all got out alive and unharmed.”
Rescuers from the Port Authority’s Police Crash Fire Rescue Unit responded to Taxiway J after receiving calls from passengers trapped on the craft, law enforcement sources said.
The first -responders shoveled snow away from around the plane’s wheels before it was towed.
JFK was closed for two hours so workers could put salt and sand on runways, because of the freezing rain, officials said.
“I didn’t hear or see anything. I was out. I had slept through most of it,” said Houlton, a fifth-grade school teacher in Mexico.
“When I woke up I heard an announcement from the pilot that the plane had hit a patch of ice and slid on the runway. I didn’t even know what had happened until I got off the plane.”
