EDMONTON (Canada) – The Air Canada flight that that was forced to crash-land at Edmonton International Airport after a tire burst during take-off last week in Calgary suffered a much more serious accident than first reported, according to Canadian news sources.

Ms Christina Kurylo, one of the passengers in the ill-fated flight was reported by news website The Globe and Mail to have suffered from a concussion after a propeller blade snapped off the right-side engine and smashed into the window next to her seat.

Ms Kurlyo said in her interview that she got hit in the head when something crashed through the window.

She described herself as being extremely lucky and credited the person seating alongside her for getting her out of the plane.

The Air Canada flight was forced to make an emergency landing after taking off from Calgary and on impact, the landing gear of the plane collapsed, leading to the aircraft skidding down the runway

Another passenger, Mr Ron Prochner told The Canadian Press that the ordeal was bumpy and that a “loud explosion” was heard.

“There were sparks. I remember smoke. I remember the horrible smell like gasoline and oil burning,” Prochner said in an interview with the news website.

Another passenger, Mr Lee Swaile, told news outlet CBC News that they didn’t receive any warning of the accident “until the second (they) touched down”.

“There was a big crash, and it felt like the weight from the plane, the tires all went out,” he said.

Mr Swaile said that the pilot alerted passengers that the aircraft had blown a tire and were forced to divert to Edmonton International Airport.

“At this point, there is no reason to question the safety of the Q400 aircraft,” said Ms Manon Stuart, a spokesperson for Jazz Aviation, in a response to queries by The Globe and Mail.

Ms Stuart said that the cause of the incident is still unknown and that the aircraft model has been thought to be a robust and reliable aircraft.

Miraculously, there were no casualties from the accident and only four people were sent to hospital with no life-threatening injuries. Various Canadian news websites reported that they have been discharged.

The Globe and Mail recalled that in 2007, the manufacturer of the twin-engined Q400 aircraft faced several landing-gear failures in planes operated by Scandinavian Airlines. The problem was blamed on corrosion.

“The flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder have been recovered and they’re being sent to the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) lab in Ottawa for analysis. We’re just going to continue to gather information,” said Mr Chris Krepsky, a spokesman for Canada’s TSB  to news agency QMI. AGENCIES

SOURCES: THE GLOBE AND MAIL, CBC NEWS, MAIL ONLINE, QMI AGENCY